Black Widow
by DSISandraPullman39
Summary: I don't trust her and I don't like her and I have every intention of keeping an eye on her from now on.
1. Chapter 1

**Black Widow 1/?**

**Disclaimer:-** Don't own them just borrowing!

**Episode:- ** None

**Pairing:- ** Sandra/Gerry (eventually)

**Rating:- **M (for later chapters)

**Achieve:- . /group/new_tricksff/**

**Summary:-**

**Author's Note:- **After finishing Seven days and counting and having Sandra in danger and Gerry and the others come to her rescue I felt like the balance needed redressing a little so this is what came out not sure how long it's going to be but enjoy the ride I know I'm going to since anything could happen along the way I'm very much winging it with this one I know how it's going to start and how it's going to end but what happens in between will be as much of a surprise to me as it will be to you!

"So has he told either of you anything about his mystery woman? It must be serious he's never brought anyone to meet us before." We're sitting in the pub, me, Jack and Brian waiting for Gerry to turn up with his new girlfriend, yes girlfriend, I was surprised by that too.

"Brought her to meet us? Jesus Sandra you make it sound like he's fifteen and we're his parents. Yeah it's unusual for him to want us to meet someone he's seeing but then that's probably because he barely knows most of their names let alone stays with them long enough to bring them along for a drink." Trust Jack to get straight to the point but amongst all that rambling is exactly the point I'm making what's different about this one? He hasn't told me much about her I thought maybe he'd have told the boys more that's all I was saying.

"her name's Joanna Wilson, she's been married twice first husband dead second lives in oxford with her one daughter even though the daughter's father was the first husband. She's in her late 40's and she's a researcher in psychology department of the London Metropolitan University." Thank you Brian that's the sort of answer I was looking for, all I wanted was some information about what I'll be dealing with.

"How do you know all that?" Oh dear Jack's sulking now clearly his earlier grumpiness was merely to cover up the fact he knew as little as me! "I asked him yesterday about her and he said I'd know what she was like when I met her how come you got the full low down?"

"Last week when Sandra had us on surveillance duty, spend two hours alone together in a car in the middle of the night and you have to find something to talk about. To be honest I didn't ask about her but I think he was bored with my description of the history of police surveillance techniques so he told me."

Well that I can understand I've been unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of one of Brian's very interesting lectures in the past and you would tell him you're deepest darkest secrets if it shut him up!

"Yeah we…." They're here I was about to point out that we'd know how accurate the description was when they got here but they're here now they just walked through the door and it's stopped the words in my throat. She's not at all what I expected. She looks younger than late 40's, she's blond, not overweight but not thin either and she looks much more intelligent and mature than the sort of woman he usually talks about having his version of a relationship with. Maybe that's why this time is different. They've reached the table and Gerry has introduced her to the boys now his attention has turned to me.

"And this is our guvnor, Sandra Pullman. Sandra this is Joanna." Ok call me paranoid if you will but I watched him introduce her to Brian and Jack and she was a picture of sweetness shaking hands with them and telling them how nice it was to meet them, now she's got to me the temperature has dropped at least ten degrees. Don't get me wrong she's saying all the right things and she's shaking my hand but if looks could kill it wouldn't take a team of detectives to work out who was responsible for my death.

"We don't have long darling our reservation is in half an hour but why don't you get everyone a drink then we'll go." God I've never seen Gerry follow instructions so well, if he jumped that fast when I told him to do things at work we'd get a hell of a lot more done.

She's sat down at the table now and is already deep in conversation with Brian about where they're going for dinner and he's hanging on her every word as is Jack.

"So Joanna it's lovely to finally meet you, Brian tells me you work at LMU in the psychology department that must be really interesting." Wow well if that's the way you want to play it you can stick your pleasant conversation Ms Wilson. You should see the way she just looked at me and I swear I couldn't have made that question any sweeter or friendlier if I'd tried but she's glared at me like I'm something she stepped in and completely ignored me but Gerry's back so I can't even challenge her about it. I'm not getting a good feeling from this woman at all I mean who treats someone like that especially their boyfriend's boss, on their first meeting, it's just not normal. I don't think I like her and I know I don't trust her.

"Ready Gerry? We should go or we'll be late and they'll give our table away you know how long we've waited for this table and the strings I had to pull to get it." I can't believe what I'm seeing Gerry is getting up, leaving in the middle of a conversation and more surprisingly leaving behind a full pint.

"Yeah let's go sweetheart so you all on Monday." I can see Jack and Brian are as surprised as I am that he's just doing what she's telling him too but she's turned on the charm again and she has them eating out of her hands.

"Well she seem nice, better than Gerry's usual choice of woman." Is Brian nuts? Actually don't answer that she expressed an interest in his history of LMU conversation so he'd think she was amazing Jack will have seen through her though.

"Yes really nice girl and a looker too." Ok now I'm actually in shock.

"Are you two crazy were you not actually paying attention to the way she spoke to him and as for me I might as well not have been here she completely blanked me and looked at me like I was something she stepped in and completely ignored me when I spoke to her. I don't like her I don't get a good feeling from her at all." They can look at me like I've lost my min all they want I know what I saw and what I felt.

"Sandra you don't realise how intimidating you can be at times. It's hard enough to meet a new partner's friends and their boss but when their boss is a woman and one as capable and attractive as you it can be hard. She's probably a little jealous because Gerry's close to you you're good friends and he spends more time with you then with her. She'll relax around you when she realises you're not a threat. As for how she spoke to him well it'll do him good to be with someone who doesn't hang on his every word and can take control now and then." Jack is so full of crap at times it amazes me and I don't care that Brian is now nodding enthusiastically in agreement. I don't trust her and I don't like her and I have every intention of keeping an eye on her from now on.


	2. Chapter 2

**** For author's notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 2/?**

I've been home for nearly two hours and I can't get Gerry or rather Joanna out of my head. I know you probably think I've over reacting about what happened tonight but I've always believed in trusting your first impression of someone and my first impression of her is that she makes me feel like it would be dangerous to relax around her or trust her too much. Think Glen Close in Fatal Attraction and she's about as trust worthy as that, bunny boiler if ever I saw one.

I know Gerry's a big boy and can look after himself but he had a weakness where women are concerned and sometimes he gets himself into things before he realises exactly what's happening. Jesus my phone just gave me a bloody heart attack I hate it when the house is silent like that and the phone goes off.

"Gerry do you know what time it is?" Yeah, yeah I know I'm sitting here worrying about him and I should be grateful that he's calling me and putting my mind at rest and I am but I can't let him know that can I? I have to act like everything is normal and normally if he rang me at almost midnight that's how I would react. "No you didn't wake me what's up? …. OK, we're you spending the evening with Joanna?...Right ok I'll see you in ten minutes, bye."

Now that is interesting, he was supposed to be spending the night with her but at the last minute she got a call that meant she absolutely had to go into work. How much work can a psychology researcher be doing that requires emergency dashes into the office at midnight? I know I'm sounding like a cop now but it's what I am and when something makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I find it really hard to accept that the pieces go together the in a way that someone is trying to make me believe they do then I need to investigate. Maybe if I can get him to open up when he gets here I might have something more to go on right now I'm not sure what I know already, I only have Brian's description to go on. He remembers the bits he wants to remember and the rest goes over his head. God I need to learn how to let it go and let him be whatever he wants to be to this woman but this time I can't. Normally I can ignore the fact that women wander in and out of his life but even when some of them have stuck around for a while they didn't give me the uneasiness I'm getting from Joanna Wilson.

"So what did Jack and Brian say about Jo after we left." Ah straight to the point no messing around, trust Gerry. He could have just gone and asked Jack or Brian himself it's not unusual for us to turn up on each other's doorsteps at odd times of the night and day but he wouldn't have done that. When it comes to relationships, profession or personal, it's always my door then end up knocking. Well at least he hasn't asked me what I thought of her which means I can be honest at least.

"They liked her, they liked her a lot. I think Brian might be in love she took a great interest in his ramblings and you know that's like some sort of aphrodisiac for him" He's happy with that not to see what I can find out about the mysterious Ms Wilson. "So what happened tonight I thought you'd be all see up for a weekend of coupledom."

"She got a call something to do with the research she's doing she had to go into the university tonight and she doesn't know how much she'll be around over the weekend." See he's trying really hard to act like that's the most normal thing in the world but I know him to well to be fooled and he can see that because I can already see him backpedalling. "She's very dedicated it's one of the things I like about her and apparently it's really important stuff she's working on she tried to explain it all to me but you know how it is. Anyway what did you think of her?"

She so much for thinking I'd dodged that minefield. "I didn't really get to talk to her much you know what it's like when Brian gets going she seems very interesting though." Ok that seems to have worked now for a diversion before he pushes me any further. "So are you going to tell me a it more about her now that she's not a big secret anymore?"

"What do you want to know? I'd lay good odds Brian already told you she's been married twice, one kid, she's a researcher in psychology at LMU." I know he knows I've not been honest about my opinion of her but he's not saying so, we do our best to keep our noses out of each other's relationships, it's not always easy and there have been times when it's all bubbled over and he's let rip about whichever guy I'm seeing or I've left him in no doubt about my feelings on his latest bimbo but something is telling me this time is different and that fact he's not pushing me for further explanation just proves it.

"So how come her daughter lives with her stepfather instead of down here with her mother?" It's a valid question, if it was her father it wouldn't seem so out of the ordinary but how many teenage girls do you know that would rather live with their stepfather than their mother?

"She's at Uni up there, second year so she stays with him, it started out just term time but Jo says because all her friends are up there she doesn't come down much. Ralph may be her stepfather but Suzanne was only four when he and Jo got together she doesn't really remember her real dad." That's a feasible explanation I suppose but forgive me for mentally logging the details he's giving me. It's hard to switch off the detective part of my brain at times.

"Right yeah I can see that teenage girls and mothers, it may have been a while but I still remember what it was like. Have you met her? Suzanne I mean?" He's starting to look a little suspicious I need to tread carefully now if I push him too far he'll clam up and then I'll be completely screwed then. "Don't look so worried I'm just being nosy, you're my friend I care about you and Joanne seems to make you happy so I'm curious about the woman who has made you happy enough to bring her along to meet us."

"God women, we men can just say, "nice bird well done mate" you women want to know every detail." Phew that was close he's laughing it off now and he's changed the subject. He didn't answer though so I'm guessing that means he hasn't met the daughter.

"Yeah well we believe in gathering information about our friend's relationships especially when they seem to be getting so serious."

"Yeah well relax she's great I really like her but it'll be a long time before you need to go looking for a hat to wear to my forth wedding."

Jesus even joking about the idea of marrying that woman has made the hairs on the back of my end stand on edge again. Maybe it's time to see if we can't all spend a little more time together again to confirm my first impression then if it is the same I'll see what else I can find out about Joanna Wilson before it's too late.


	3. Chapter 3

**** For author's notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 3/?**

"Where's Gerry? He knows how important it is that we put up a united front today. Strickland is still after our asses for wanting to take this case in the first place if it appears we're not all on board with it that'll be just the excuse he needs to pull the rug out from under us." I can't believe this, he was the one who wanted to take this case, he spent most of Friday persuading us to do it and now when the argument for doing so has to be put to Strickland he's not even bloody well here!

"I tried calling him about 10 minutes ago while you were upstairs with the boss but he didn't answer so he's probably driving." See? I'm not the only one unhappy about his absence if Jack has taken the time to ring him to see what the hell is going on then I'm definitely not the only one pissed off.

"I'll bet he was at Joanna's over the weekend it's a good twenty minutes extra drive to get here from there he's probably not bothered to leave the extra time to get in." Well that was the last thing I needed to hear. It's almost a month since that first evening and I'd really hoped it would have run it's natural course by now and she'd be out of the picture but they just seem to be getting closer. I still can't stand her and I trust her even less than I did at the beginning. Too much is changing too quickly and yes I'm aware that I'm sounding like Brian but I don't mean little things. Little things change every time Gerry has a new woman in his life I mean the big things. He's sold his "vintage" car for a start; apparently Joanna didn't think it was wise for him to be driving such a safety feature free car at his age! For years we've all been telling him to get rid of it and did he listen to us? Like hell he did. Then there's the way she seems to be trying to get him to pull further and further away from us and I happen to know from his family too. Jack and Brian think I'm mad, they keep pointing out that it's normal to live in each other's pockets at the beginning of a relationship and that I'm letting my imagination run away with me. They insist that it's not that she doesn't want him seeing us it's more about him wanting to spend every spare minute with her. I can't see it though, add to all that the fact that he's been coming in later and leaving earlier, that he flatly refuses to do any overtime in spite of the fact he needs the money and I'm properly worried. It might seem like nothing looked at individually but put it all together and it's adding up to something I don't like.

"Sorry, sorry what'd I miss? Sorry guvnor I was sure I set the alarm last night before I went to be but I must have forgot I didn't stir until 9." See what I mean? I'll lay good odds that he did set that alarm and she unset it or switched it off before he heard it. He looks like he hasn't slept at all any time recently I know he is always a bit dishevelled it's his "look" but right now he looks like he hasn't seen the inside of his own flat and therefore his wardrobe in months.

"Gerry you wanted this case the least you could do is be here on time and exactly how many days in a row are you going to wear the same shirt? You look like you've been dragged through a hedge backward." He's looking himself up and down now like I've told him something he doesn't know! Clearly the wonderful Joanna doesn't own a mirror.

"She's right mate you're looking a bit the worse for wear. How long since you've been home?" Jack is playing the concerned friend rather than the irritated boss and at least he seems to be getting through to him.

"It's been a bit of a weekend, well a bit of a week actually. Joanna's been having problems at work I've been trying to keep things ticking over at her place, making sure she's eating right and all you knw? She's been working from home so it's easy to forget to take care of yourself when you're so wrapped up in what you're doing I wanted to make sure she was ok. Anyway upshot is I haven't been home or anywhere else." Jack has glanced at me with mild concern in his eyes but my concern level has gone off the scale because I know at least one place he should have been this weekend.

"Please tell me you at least made an effort for GJ's birthday party and tidied yourself up a bit. Paula was excited about you meeting her new boyfriend I hope you didn't go to meet him looking like that." Oh my god! I know what he's about to say before he says it and so do Jack and Brian because they're both staring at him in complete shock.

"I didn't go to the party, look don't give me the "oh my god" looks everything was seriously hitting the fan with Jo's research she needed me."

"And what did Paula say? I can't believe you decided your grandson's birthday party was less important that hanging around while she worked. You knew how important it was to Paula how could you…"

"Look I've already had all this from Allison and Paula, even Catlin's had a do but Jo needed me and GJ will have plenty more birthdays. Now are we actually going to do some work or are you going to keep sticking your nose in where it's not welcome."

"Hey that's out of line Gerry, she's worried about you we all are." Brian has finally said something and he and Jack are both on their feet now as if they need to stand guard to defend me. I can't believe this is happening, we don't do this, we all care about each other too much to stand back when one of us is making a mistake, it may seem like interfering from the outside but we all accept it's what will happen. After this they can't stick their heads in the sand any longer, surely they have to see that there's something going on with this woman that just isn't right.

"Gerry Strickland will be down here in half an hour, go home and clean yourself up and be back here for him coming." I'm trying to keep my voice level so he doesn't pick up on how worried and upset I am but frankly right now I don't think he'd care anyway. He's stormed out of the office again muttering about me getting a life so I'll keep my nose out of his and Jack and Brian have turned to look at me. "You two still want to tell me there's nothing off about Joanna Wilson and this "relationship" he's embarking on?"

"He's tired and defensive Sandra, yeah it's unusual for him to miss something as important as Gerry Junior's birthday but it doesn't appear that she made him do it." Jesus is Jack really that blind? Now Brian is agreeing with him I can't believe what I'm seeing.

"Fine believe what you want but mark my words something isn't right here I can feel it in my bones and when it all goes tits up just remember I saw it coming and you two chose to ignore me." I've stormed into my office and slammed the door so hard the walls actually shook. If they won't help me find out what's going on with this woman then I'll just have to do it without them and I know just the person who might be seeing the same things I am and be willing to help.


	4. Chapter 4

**** For author's notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 4/?**

"Thanks for coming." I've been sitting here for twenty minutes in the pub across the road from the station wondering if Emily was actually going to show up. I couldn't get talking to her earlier so I left a message on her voice mail and kept my fingers crossed she'd realise how must I needed to see her from the cryptic way I'd worded it.

"Of course I'd come sorry I'm late we've a new PC on the team who managed to misfile a whole folder of chain of evidence reports it took me forever to find them." God I remember those days when all it took was one wrong move by a wet behind the ears PC and your entire case could be shot to pieces.

"At least you found them I hope you wiped the floor with the PC when you did though."

"Yeah of course I did we've all had to listen to our guvnor bollock us in the past it's only fair to keep up the tradition. So you need to talk about dad? I have an idea what about but go on you first." Thank god someone else who at least appears to be seeing some of what I am and is worried too! Jack and Brian were getting to the stage where they had me doubting myself.

"What do you think of Joanna Harris? Am I being paranoid or is there something about her that doesn't feel right?" She's nodding but not answering yet and suddenly I'm starting to doubt if this was such a good idea after all. "Jack and Brian think I'm being paranoid, that it's just normal new relationship stuff but the more I hear about her and the more I see how being with her is affecting him the more concerned I am."

"You know he missed GJ's birthday on Saturday?" See now I knew we wouldn't be the only ones to be surprised by that.

"Yeah he told us this morning and you should have seen him when he came in he looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backward." I wish she'd say more I'm beginning to feel like I'm in the witness box making the case for the prosecution here. "How did Paula and the others react when he was a no show?"

"It wasn't pretty, Alison and Paula were taking it in turns to have a go at him, Catlin had it all over Facebook how much of a tosser he was on Saturday night and even Carole and Jayne were getting in on the act." I can just imagine the whispered arguments over the phone as they tried to get their point across without disturbing GJ and his friends. What surprises me though is how little he seemed to care this morning. "How often have you met her and what exactly do you know about her? He's keeping her well away from us and the exes."

"I've only met her ones and it wasn't for long. I know the basics, she's been married twice first husband dead divorced from the second with one daughter who lives with her second husband and rarely sees her. She's a researcher at LMU but she seems to have more drama in her working life than most coppers I know. I wish I could put my finger on what it is about her that makes me distrust her it just feels like she's trying to isolate him from everyone who cares for him." I know that normally if he's even slightly serious about someone he introduces them to his girls and wants them including in his relationship. He's a dedicated father and his kids are the most important thing to him. I can almost understand him wanting to keep her away from us but to start ignoring them is just a huge red flag.

"Have you run her through the system to see if we have any information on her?" I'd thought about it but dismissed it as a step too far now I'm wishing I'd just done it.

"No. Don't get me wrong I've been tempted but since I seem to be the only one concerned I thought it might be a little over the top. Are you going to tell me what you actually think?"

I can see her running over what we've discussed so far and unless I'm very much mistaken I think she does share my concerns. Now I just need to know if she thinks we should be doing something about it or let it run it's natural course.

"I called him on Sunday, I wanted to just check in and see if he was ok after the row with Paula. It took me three tries to get an answer and then it was her not him who picked up. She said he was busy and she'd get him to call me back, I'm still waiting. We were supposed to meet last week for a drink and he pulled out at the last minute too. I've only met the woman once and then it was by chance but she struck me as two faced. She was all sweetness and light while dad was around I was actually thinking he might have made a good choice for once then he went to get us drinks and suddenly she was the bloody ice queen."

"Exactly!" Thank god someone else got the same treatment as me. "Jack and Brian tried to tell me it was because I was intimidating or she was jealous because I was a woman and his boss but it didn't feel like that. If she saw me as some sort of threat it was to her being able to manipulate him not because she thought he had feelings for me. What are we going to do? I mean if we come out and tell him we think she's not genuine he'll not believe us and he might pull even further away it'll give her more ammunition."

"We need to check her out, check the system and see if anything flags up, find out as much as we can from the police computers and check out the University, look for published articles and stuff by her if she's a researcher then she should have some published academic work." See I knew getting someone else on board would make me feel like we could get somewhere.

"I want to check out the two previous husbands too, and the daughter much as my mother and I argue if she'd remarried after my dad died then divorced I can't see me deciding to live with my stepfather." I have felt uneasy about the situation with the daughter since the beginning. She's not even 20 yet she chooses to live with her stepfather a couple of hundred miles away from her mother whom she barely speaks to. There's something just not right there. "I'll tell you what you take her and the university and I'll take the husbands and the daughter. See how much I can find out without raising too many suspicions. Are you free on Friday night? We could get together at my place and compare notes. I'd say I'll cook but you don't want to taste what I come up with so take-away and wine?"

"Sounds good and try not to worry too much Sandra if there's something off about her we'll find it and we'll convince him to put an end to it. If we don't find anything we'll just have to find another way to persuade him she's not good for him."

I know she's right but I still can't shake the feeling in the pit of my stomach that something just isn't right and until I find out what that something is I won't be able to.


	5. Chapter 5

**** For author's notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 5/?**

"Sandra do you want to go for a curry before home?" Jack actually made me jump I thought they were all gone, Gerry was out the door bang on five thirty and Brian had a cup match so wasn't far behind I'd assumed Jack had left ages ago too but he's standing at my office door looking at me strangely. "Are you ok you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"Yeah sorry I'm fine I just thought you'd left already you startled me." Of all of them Jack can see through me better than anyone I've ever known. He's spent too much time with me over the years to be fooled by any attempts to brush him off and he's proving that tonight as he looks at me with complete scepticism in his eyes.

"What are you up to? Don't try to tell me you're not doing something you don't want us to know about I can see it flashing above your head like a neon sign." See what I mean? Shit now what do I do. Him and Brian haven't mentioned Gerry's behaviour again and I know they still think I'm crazy for being worried about him so do I be honest and say I'm not ready to let it lie yet or do I try and blag it? "Is this still about Gerry?" Ok so much for blagging it.

"Yeah look I know you think I'm made but I've spoken to Emily and she's worried too, we're not interfering in his relationship we're just worried so we're trying to check Joanna out a little."

"You realise if he finds out about this he'll never forgive either of you, he's happy just because he's acting a little out of character doesn't mean Joanna is making him do it. People change when they start new relationships, it happens all the time, once the novelty wears off he'll be back to normal." He's beginning to sound like a broken record and I'm starting to wonder who he's trying to convince that this is all normal, me or himself.

"Of course I know that why do you think we're being so careful about it. I'm sorry Jack but you're wrong about this. He's pushing out his kids and even his grandson no matter who he's been with in the past no matter how wrapped up in them he's been his kids and GJ have always come first. This woman is dangerous, something doesn't feel right and since you and Brian won't actually listen to me I had no choice but to see if Emily shared my concerns." I hate that I feel like I'm having to defend myself to him. Is it so wrong to worry about the safety of someone you care about? If it was him and I thought he was in trouble and couldn't see it I'd do exactly the same thing.

"It's not that we won't listen and it's not that we're blind to the fact that he is different since he met her it just seems like you're fixated on that one meeting you had with her and it's turned you against her so you have to find something to justify that. Can you promise me that it's not that? That you aren't trying to make something sinister to make yourself feel better about just not liking her?"

"Jack you've known me a long time, if this was a case and I told you something felt wrong about a person involved, that I had a gut feeling about it you'd trust that wouldn't you?" Now for the first time I can see doubt at his own conviction in his eyes. He gave me my first break in the murder squad because he did trust my instincts and he's always said he was right to do so that I've proved over and over again since that I have a good nose for where trouble is even when people are doing a good job of hiding it. Now it's time for him to put his money where his mouth is because this isn't about a random suspect or a victim we can remain detached from, this is our friend and I really believe he needs our help.

"Yes I would, I'm not saying I agree with you but tell me what you've found out so far." He finally sat down on the other side of my desk and is looking like he's really interested for the first time.

"Nothing."

"See I told you…"

"No you don't understand I've found nothing at all, no trace of Joanna Wilson, no paper trail of her marriages, no birth record for her daughter, nothing at all that suggests Joanna Wilson exists. Can you really tell me it's possible in this day and age to get to her age and not have left a paper trail. I mean public records alone should have details of her marriages and the birth of a child to her." At last he looks like he's starting to see some of what I'm seeing I've spent the last two days since my lunch with Emily making enquiries and calling in favours and I cannot find any references to Joanna Harris anywhere. I even called a friend who knows enough about the internet and where to find things to see if he could find any traces that I was missing and he came up blank too.

"That can't be Sandra like you said it's just not possible to live these days without leaving any trace of yourself. Have you tried the police computer?"

"Emily is on that she's checking all our systems and checking out the university too we're meeting up on Friday night to compare what we've found out but as I said so far I've found out absolutely nothing. I want to speak to the daughter but since I can't find any trace of her either I've no way of getting in contact with her."

"You don't like the fact that she lives with the stepfather?"

"No I don't it doesn't ring true at all and I can't check into the death of her first husband either because right now I can't even find out who he was. Are you still going to tell me this is all normal?" I know he's not, even he can't ignore what I've told him and even though I can tell he thinks there's some simple explanation for the fact I'm getting nowhere with public records I can tell he's building a case for my concerns in his head.

"Ok if and it's a big if, you're right about all this we need to know more before we even think about talking to Gerry about it all. You know what he's like he'll tell us to keep our noses out of his business and then we'll have no idea what's going on. Why don't I see if I can get him to come for a drink tomorrow night and see if I can get more details about the daughter and the husbands? At least if we had names for them we might have a chance of finding them then we can see what Emily has come up with and see where we go from there?"

At last some progress, not with details of Ms Wilson of course but at least I've managed to convince him there's something to be worried about. If he can get Gerry to open up a bit maybe we can actually get somewhere and put an end to this before my gut feeling goes from concern to all out panic.


	6. Chapter 6

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 6/?**

I've been lying awake staring at the ceiling for the last hour, something that's becoming a habit since Gerry took up with Joanna Harris. When I close my eyes I see them both and my imagination runs away with me. I don't know what I actually think is going to happen or what I think she's going to do to him but it doesn't take long for my imagination to come up with everything from turning him into some sort of Stepford husband to us finding his body in a ditch somewhere! It's almost midnight and all I want to do is pick up the phone and call him, something I wouldn't have thought twice about doing before her. Normally if I was sitting around at this time I'd call and he'd come over or we'd just chat on the phone and it would be better , or I'd at least feel like it was better because I'd spoken to him.

"Jesus Sandra just make the call if he answers and everything is ok maybe you can start to convince yourself that this really is all in your head!" I feel like some sort of nervous teenager staring at the phone worrying about calling a boy I fancy which is just ridiculous! We're friends, he's a friend nothing more, a friend I'm worried about right now.

It's ringing and just as I've convinced myself it's going to go straight to voicemail someone answers I can hear distant voices in the background and then just as suddenly the line goes dead again. Shit now what? Did he answer and not want to talk to me because she was there? Did she answer and have to hide the phone before he realised it had rang? Did he answer and was trying to tell me something was wrong by not speaking? Oh god now there's absolutely no hope that I'm going to get any sleep tonight! I….

"Hello?" I've grabbed the phone so quickly when it started ringing that I didn't even take time to see who was calling and as Emily's voice fills my ear I'm not sure if I'm relieved or devastated.

"Sandra; sorry to ring so late did I wake you?

"No to be honest sleep's hard to come by right now." Do I tell her what just happened or am I reading too much into it because I'm already worried?

"Yeah for me too have you spoken to Dad tonight?" Well that solves that dilemma.

"I just tried to call him but the phone was answered, no one spoke, then it was hung up again. I don't know what to think have you spoken to him?"

"No I haven't but I have Catlin here and I don't like what I've just heard she's really upset and Jayne is ready to kill. Would it be too late to call over?" Right now I can't think of anything I'd rather she did. I need to tell her what's been going on and what I've found or rather not found out about Joanna in the hope she can tell me something that will put my mind at rest.

"Come over, I'll call Jack and see if he's still up and about. I talked to him today and he's going to try to get more information out of Gerry over the weekend so we should fill him in properly."

It's been 20 minutes since I called Jack and discovered he was having the same insomnia issues as me and Emily, Now I have coffee brewing and muffins defrosting in the microwave because caffeine and sugar is exactly what a group of insomniacs who are already wound up and stressed need to calm them down! I don't even know why I'm acting like I'm hosting a coffee morning instead of a late night crisis meeting other than the fact that I had to do something while I was waiting and it seemed like as good a distraction as any. Now though with nothing left to distract me I've taken to pacing back and forward practically wearing a hole in the carpet. How bloody long does it take to get here? Neither of them live on the other side of the city and even at nearly 1am on a Friday night the traffic can't be that heavy can it? This is getting…thank god at last the doorbell!

"Sorry Sandra I know it's late but this really needs sorted Catlin is in bits and Jayne is angrier than I've ever heard her. Did you call Jack?" Now Emily is pacing I told you the carpet was in danger tonight didn't I?

"Yeah he's on his way do you want coffee? I have muffins." She's looking at me now like I've taken leave of my senses. Screw it coffee was a very sensible idea but I know what we all really need right now.

"Thank god! I was beginning to wonder who you were and what you'd done with Sandra!" I've just set a bottle of Scotch and three glasses on the coffee table and I can hear Jack's car in the driveway.

"Right ladies I'm assuming something must have happened and we haven't all got together for a drink in the middle of the night for the hell of it." If you didn't know Jack as well as Emily and I do you'd be forgiven for taking his grumpiness as a sign of apathy to what's going on but in truth the more worried and stressed he gets the grumpier he gets, It's how he shows he cares.

"Ok look I only got the slightly hysterical details from Catlin before she fell asleep on my sofa and when I called Jayne to let her know she was with me and she was safe she gave me a similar account in a furious sort of way."

"Emily get to the point none of us is getting any younger and some of us have less time to waste than others." That's it Jack way to make the situation less stressful by snapping ad everyone! Just drink your scotch and let her talk!

"Ok sorry it's just that I can't quite believe it myself. Apparently Catlin was out this afternoon and since she was closer to Dad's than home she thought she'd go there and crash for the night."

"Yeah well she does that all the time what's happened Emily?" Now I'm getting as irritable as Jack but I can't help but feel this is going to be bad, really bad!

"She's got to the flat and tried to use her key and it wouldn't work so she knocked. Joanna came to the door and told her that Dad was busy and they were going out then shut the door in her face."

"What the hell? Where was Gerry? Did he not say anything? What did she do?"

"She called Jayne but she's not at home she's away for the weekend with Roy so she called me and I went a picked her up. When I got there I knocked the door and neither of them answered. She was so upset I brought her home and got her settled but when I called she answered and said he was in the shower then they were going out and hung up on me. Jayne is ready to kill him actually were it not for the fact she's in the lake district she probably would have killed him by now."

"When I called earlier the phone was answered but no one spoke then the line went dead." They're both looking at me now and finally I can see real concern in Jack's eyes. Finally he's starting to believe us but oddly given that it's one of the things I've been wanting since the beginning it hasn't made me feel any better. Right now I don't think anything would.


	7. Chapter 7

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 7/?**

"Sandra tell Emily what you found out when you checked out Joanna." Jack is clearly looking for some time to gather together his thoughts and I do have to fill her in but given how worried she already looks I almost feel bad adding to that which I know I will when I tell her that according to all public records Joanna Harris doesn't exist.

"I've checked everywhere I can think, public records, DVLA and family records and I can't find any trace of Joanna anywhere, not her marriages , not the birth of her daughter, nothing at all." It doesn't get any easier the more often I state the facts of what my investigating has shown so far and Emily now looks completely confused.

"How can that be? No one can go through their life without leaving some records behind you must have made a mistake when you were searching." Does she not think I thought of that? That I tried every different spelling of both names I could think of that I didn't search every possible database that I could? I'm not exactly new to the whole investigation thing and I know I've looked everywhere.

"Emily I think Sandra probably knows what she's doing what we need to work out is why there's no record of her? Did you get anywhere with the University?" Jack is starting to take control now and I have to say I'm relieved because I need someone else to be managing this I don't think I can stay calm enough right now to do it myself.

"I called the university and they confirmed that she works there but they wouldn't tell me anything else they said they couldn't reveal details of staff." Well at least part of what she's told Gerry is right though if she was a researcher why would they be worried about giving out details? Surely that's how academics make a living from being contacted by people to talk about their research and publish their work.

"Why would they not tell you about her job did you ask if she was researching in the psychology department?" See Jack is thinking he same thing as me I should be engaging in this conversation right now but I can't all I can do is let all the things we're finding out sink in and try to make some sense of it all.

"They said we'd need to contact the department directly in an official capacity which we can't do right now. I did a check on our systems and got nothing but then if we now know the name's not right that's not surprising." Jack's started writing things down on the note pad on my end table while she speaks and I've got a whole new set of questions running around in my head.

"Ok look we've established that we have a lot more work to do to work out who she is and what the hell's going on with her past but I have bigger questions right now." I've finally managed to pull myself together enough to join in the conversation again as I top up everyone's drinks and they stare at me expectantly. "We could take weeks to find out anything especially since we now don't even know what her real name is, what do we do in the mean time? I mean we can't confront Gerry with what we've found now because it proves nothing and she clearly has her claws into him in a big way so he'll pull completely away from us if he thinks we're pushing it too much. What can we do in the meantime to keep him safe and is there any actual danger other than him making a fool of himself and burning some bridges with us all that we could probably rebuild afterward?"

"Well because we don't know anything about her past it makes me worry about what exactly did happen to her husbands the first one anyway. You said it yourself Sandra if there is a daughter and she's living with her step father there's something not right there." Emily has a point, several points but I still don't know what we can do or how we can warn him when there's nothing to warn him about yet. "And it's ok saying he could build those bridges with us because we know what's going on or that there might be something going on but right now he's one step away from losing Catlin, Paula and GJ forever."

"Do you really think he'd let it get that far? Are we not over stating the amount of control she has over him?" I know Jack is trying to keep a lid on our panic but she does have some sort of control over him otherwise he wouldn't have done the things he has already.

"Jack Paula is already mad at him for not showing up for GJ's party and now he's going to be lucky if Catlin ever speaks to him again, we can't even tell them what's going on because we don't have anything to tell yet." Emily is starting to get frustrated now I can hear it in her voice so we need to bring this back to what we can do rather than panicking and getting nowhere.

"Look we need someone who can do things with computers and find information that we aren't able to." Jack is nodding and I know he's thinking the same thing as me as I throw him the portable phone from the charger on the table beside me and he starts to dial.

"Brian it's Jack we need your expertise…it's about Gerry and Joanna…Yeah I know but I think when you hear what I've heard over the course of the day you'll agree that maybe we were wrong to dismiss Sandra's concerns so easily….ok I'll come get you bring your lap top." He's hung up and handed me back the phone as he grabs his keys and leaves Emily and I alone to go get Brian.

"Sandra what are we going to do, I know we've no proof that she's dangerous but I feel like she is. My gut is telling me this can't end well and I'm really scared for him." What do I say now? She looks like she could burst into tears at any second and I know how she feels but it wouldn't help.

"We do what we have to, we check everything we get Brian to use every backdoor trick he knows online and we go back to public records and the university and if need be we start flashing warrant cards to get the information we need. It's all we can do right now." I know I'm not convincing her I don't even sound confident enough to convince myself right now and all I can hope is that now we have both Jack and Brian on board we'll finally get somewhere because if we don't I can't think what we can do next and I can't help but worry that the longer we wait to step in the more of a mess we'll have to clear up when we do.


	8. Chapter 8

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black widow 8/?**

"Why didn't you tell us sooner Sandra if this is all as bad as its shaping up to be then we should all have been able to help!" Is Brian having a laugh? Has he not actually listened to himself and Jack the last few weeks? Every time I so much as mentioned Joanna it was as if I had changed from the rational woman they have worked with for almost a decade into an irrational basket case why does he think I wasn't keeping them up to date.

"Be fair Brian we haven't exactly been making things easy for her, until today I thought she was over reacting too and you said it when I called you to come over tonight too. The point is what are we going to do and do you know any way at all to find out more about this woman without having to make it official or alert Gerry to what we're doing?" Thank you Jack at least someone can see how difficult a position they put me in. I really want to lose the feeling in the pit of my stomach right now, I just want for one day to feel like things are a little like what they were before this woman came into our lives and turned it upside down, I want the old Gerry back, my Gerry ... No our Gerry hell you know what I mean. I didn't realise how used I'd got to having him around all the time to knowing that I could call him just for a chat or whatever any time I wanted. Shit now I feel like I'm going to cry I need to get out of this room before I make a fool of myself.

"You three talk it out I'll go get you a cup of tea or some juice or something Brian." I don't know what's wrong with me they are all being sensible if a little worried and I'm standing in my kitchen unable to stop myself from blubbering like a school girl whatever is going on that's not going to help.

"Sandra are you ok?" Damn now Emily is looking at me like she's worried I'm having some sort of break down why couldn't I just have said no don't come over I'm in bed and we'll talk about it tomorrow then I could have had a meltdown alone.

"I'm fine Emily sorry I just needed a minute it's all getting a bit much I'll be out in a minute I'll just get Brian something to drink pour me another scotch a big one." She's gone again and now I really need to pull myself...

"Here drink this then tell me what's really going on. I know you and Dad are close and it must be hard for you but it's hard for all of us if it wasn't for you none of us would be here tonight trying to help so tell me what's going on." She's just said what's going on I'm worried about him what more does she want me to say?

"He's one of my best friends Emily it would be the same if it was Jack or Brian I don't want to see him hurt either emotionally or physically and I can feel that something's wrong we've been through this already." Great now I sound defensive and I'm not even convincing myself that nothing is going on but what can I say?

"Sandra it's ok to admit that it's more than just that he's your friend. I know you care about him, I thought he knew it too before this, maybe he still does maybe that's why she's so determined to keep him away from you."

"Emily you're reading more into this than there is of course I care about him but I care about the others too you can't work together as closely as we all have for as long as we have and not care about each other." I really need her to back off on this because the way I feel right now I can do without looking too closely at my motives right now because I'm not sure I know myself how I really feel anymore. A few weeks ago I'd have laughed at anyone's who I had feelings for Gerry Standing that went beyond friendship but now I'm not so sure. I was actually started to wonder if there was nothing wrong with Joanna if I was turning it into something in my head because I was jealous now I know that I may be jealous but there is a good reason to be worried too.

"I don't think I am I think you have feelings for him that go way past friendship and I don't know why you won't admit it. It's not a weakness to admit that you are worried about him because this time in an effort to forget about how he feels about you he's picked the wrong woman and got himself into a situation that we need to get him out of." Wow what the hell? Ok maybe I can admit that I have feelings for him but she is seriously deluded if she thinks they could ever be reciprocated. I couldn't be less Gerry's type if I tried.

"Emily your dad makes his choices where women are concerned for many reasons but none of them are anything to do with me, maybe you're right, maybe I do wish that it was me he wanted to be with but the reason that we're not together is that I'm so far away from his type that it's laughable. We need to get him out of whatever he's got himself into and then he can go back to not finding me attractive and I can live with that. This isn't about how I feel about him it's about making sure he's safe." I can feel myself coming close to tears again shit this isn't going to help why can't she just leave it we don't need this distraction right now. I'm finding this all hard enough without having my emotions turned upside down into the bargain.

"When we get him out of this you'll see that I'm right and maybe you'll stop being idiots and admit to each other how you feel so we don't end up in this situation again." Great now I feel like it's my fault he's caught up with London's answer to Glen Close I ...

"How long does it take to make a bloody cup of tea." Jack has come into the room and is looking at us both now like he knows he's interrupted something but has no desire to find out what. "Come on Brian has an idea and for once I think it's a good one."

"Ok we're coming Emily why don't you get Brian a glass from that cupboard behind you and I'll bring him some juice."

"I think we should keep a closer eye on them while we're trying to look into her background a bit more, I think until we can see what she's doing during the day and how things are going at night when they're together we have nothing solid to work on, so how would it be if Jack and I keep an eye on her then maybe you could both alternate keeping an eye on them at night."

"You mean follow them? What if she sees you we don't know what she's capable of." Emily looks like she's never heard a worse idea in her life but I think they're right.

"That's a chance we'll have to take because right it's all we've got." They all look a little worried now but we are going to have to make it work because right now nothing else is getting us any closer to getting this sorted.


	9. Chapter 9

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 9/?**

"We don't both need to be here Emily we don't know how long we're going to have to keep doing this we can take turns so neither of us has to spend all night every night sitting in the car." It's the first night of our surveillance thing. Jack and Brian spent the better part of this afternoon and this evening doing it then met Emily and I in a grotty looking café round the corner from Gerry's place to tell us what they'd saw. I swear it was like something from an old Philip Marlow PI movie I kept expecting to hear a gravelly voice over dictating our every move and if I wasn't still so uptight I'd find it all hilarious!

"Yeah and we will work out a rota of some sort but it's Saturday night why should you sit here alone worrying while I sit at home worrying? Neither of us had work tomorrow so we might as well wait it out together." She has a point I wasn't exactly relishing the idea of watching the world go by alone in the small hours of Sunday morning watching his front door not sure if I was hoping I'd see something or praying I'd see nothing.

"Ok so what do you make of today then? Of what Jack saw when he followed her and the fact Brian never took his eyes off this place and didn't see Gerry at all?" It's true Jack and Brian arrived here together this morning and saw absolutely nothing for 3 hours then Joanna left, Jack left Brain in the park to keep an eye on the house and followed her and the whole time he was gone and right up to when we changed over and hour ago Gerry was conspicuous by his absence.

"I don't know what to make of the fact Dad hasn't emerged the whole day I mean he might have spent the day lying on the sofa watching football but I am concerned about where she went." Really? See I hadn't given much thought to the fact she spent Saturday afternoon shopping, it wouldn't be the first time I'd done it and I'm sure Emily has too but she's peaked my interest. She's clearly picked up on something I missed not that that would have been hard because all I could focus on was the fact that Gerry hadn't been spotted.

"Go on." I'm not looking at her as I talk because I'm too busy paying attention to the window of Gerry's sitting room where I can see light but no movement.

"Well it's Saturday afternoon and she went shopping nothing strange there but think about where she went." I am thinking but I'm still not seeing where she's going with this. "Where do you go when you shop on your day off? If you are anything like me and every other female in the country you shop for clothes, books, music whatever, maybe stop for coffee and lunch then more of the same but she was gone for hours and did none of that and the fact she used a payphone twice even though we know for a fact she has a mobile is setting alarm bells off for me too." OK I'll give her that but there's a million reasons why she might not have used her mobile. She could have left it at home or the battery could have been flat or anything. I know, I know now I sound like her defence barrister but I'm just playing devil's advocate . I know that when we start telling Gerry any of this he'll come up with all these arguments.

"There are loads of reasons she could have used a payphone instead of her mobile if we go to Gerry with that he'll tear us to shreds."

"yeah I know but you didn't let me finish." Fair point I don't know what's wrong with me these days I'm leaping all over everything anyone says and trying to pre-empt everything. "She didn't shop for clothes or shoes or whatever she didn't meet a friend for lunch or even stop for coffee. She went to three different pharmacists, a whole in the wall tiny little hardware store then Jack lost her for over an hour so we've no idea what she was doing. Why would she need to go to three different chemists and where the hell was she for the time Jack lost her?"

"We need to go into those chemists on Monday flash our warrant cards and find out what she bought and if they have CCTV." Chemists make me nervous I mean yeah she was maybe looking for a particular colour of hair dye or something mundane like that and had to shop around for it but let's face it we all know it's not going to be that simple. I'm just about to point that out but my phone is ringing and I've hit the hands free on the steering wheel as Brian's voice fills the car.

"How's it going has he come out of the house at all yet?" I can hear the frustration in his sigh as we say no and I'm pretty sure it's frustration we all share right now. "Ok well that's not the reason I called anyway I've been talking to Esther and she's had an idea."

"An idea about what?" Emily looks and sounds completely sceptical but she doesn't know what I know about Esther. She's just as sharp if not sharper than the boys and she sees things differently. I've always joked that she's our secret weapon our sleeping 5th member of the team if she's come up with something I'm willing to bet it's gold.

"There's a mature student open night at LMU on Tuesday, one of her art class women is going to look at doing History of Art or something. Anyway we went and check the website and the Psychology department is opening it's doors too and Joanna is one of the staff involved."

" Great but how does that help us she knows all of us it's not like we can go and pretend to be interested in psychology Brian she'd know we aren't." There it is again the interrupting and not letting people finish I'm really going to have to try to keep a lid on that.

"Yeah but she's never met Esther. She says she'll go, she'll make sure to talk to Joanna and see if she can find anything out from the other staff there. Not only that but while she's there we know she's not with Gerry so maybe me and Jack can persuade him to go for a drink and get some more info from him." See I told you Esther's idea would be genius didn't I? I'm not sure about sending her in there alone though.

"if she's going to talk to Joanna she needs to wear a wire so me and Sandra can listen to what's being said from outside and go in there and get her out if it seems like things are going tits up." Emily has clearly been thinking the same thing as me it's just too dangerous to send her in when we don't know if she might have seen a picture of Esther or anything but Brian seems to agree so it's sorted.

"Esther's good Emily don't worry about it if there's anything she can get out of Joanna she'll get it," Brian's gone and suddenly I feel like I need to defend Esther and even Brian to her.

"Yeah I know. Look you don't need to convince me Sandra I know the skills that Dad and the others bring to the unit. I'm not one of those wankers who can't see that their age makes them better not worse at their job." Ok maybe I don't need to defend them then. "But since we're here and it doesn't look like we're going anywhere soon I do want to take to you about something else."

"What? Have you found something out you're not telling us?" My stomach has just knotted again shit I wish she'd just….."

"Mot it's not that, I need to talk to you about something else, something unrelated…..well maybe a little related anyway I need to talk to you about you and Dad." Shit this is bad, maybe not the type of bad I was expecting but still bad, I don't need to be analysing how I feel about him right now and unlike when she brought it up at my place last night I can't escape. I'm stuck in a confined space with her and things are about to get extremely uncomfortable.


	10. Chapter 10

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 10/?**

"Is he picking up yet?" Gerry is AWOL and I had to go to yet another boring "let me tell you what you're doing wrong" meeting with Strickland instead of helping them try to track him down. For all he can be a little unreliable at times he never just doesn't show for work. Sometimes he's late, sometimes when he gets here he's worse than useless but he never just doesn't show and I'm starting to get really worried. I managed to deflect Emily's questions on Saturday night about the possibility of an ulterior motive for my initial reservations regarding Joanna but I know it's only a temporary diversion. She has decided that she knows how I feel about him and even if she were wrong, which I'm starting to think she might not be, she wouldn't let it go. Now though I need to focus on the fact that he's still not in the office and neither Jack nor Brian look like they've been able to contact him.

"No I've called 6 times since you went upstairs and I keep getting his voice mail on his mobile and no answer at all on his land line."

"Yeah and I've sent three emails no reply yet." Only Brian would go to the default setting of using technology even though we both know that Gerry can just about use his phone the idea of him regularly checking his email is a joke.

"OK well look forget the Huston case for now we're getting nowhere anyway you two go to his place see if you can get a reply to the door, I'm meeting Emily in ten minutes upstairs we're going to those chemists that Joanna shopped at on Saturday and the hardware shop too we need to know what she bought and see if they have any CCTV so we're going mob handed." I haven't had to tell them twice they are already on their feet and heading for the door. In the space of one weekend they've gone from thinking I'm crazy to being just as concerned as I am and reassuring as that is I'm not sure whether I prefer it to when they were telling me it was all in my head. At least then I could almost convince myself they were right now I know something's really going on and the fact I haven't seen him today to know that he's at least ok is making me feel sick.

"What do you mean he didn't show? Did he call? Did he pull a sicky?" I've just finished explaining to Emily that Gerry was a no show this morning and she doesn't seem to have taken anything in past the initial statement about his absence.

"No I've just told you he hasn't called in, Jack and Brian have been trying to contact him all morning while I was stuck with Strickland and he's not replying. I've sent them over there to his place they'll call if they speak to him."

"And if they don't? What the hell are we supposed to do then Sandra? I mean we can't exactly make this official based on him not showing up for work for one day we'd be laughed out or Strickland's office." She's got that right I mean he's a grown man with a less than perfect record for reliability if we went to our boss and said we wanted to start making all this official with the flimsy evidence we have that there's a problem and he'd not only laugh he'd put us both on leave pending a visit to the MET shrink.

"I don't know, all we can do now is get into the shops she went to and see if we can find out anything that might give us something to work on." We've just arrived at the hardware store and I'm guessing just from a quick look at the outside of the building that this place isn't going to have CCTV.

"We need to enquire about a customer who came in on Saturday afternoon around…" Emily has gone straight into detective mode as we both flash our warrant cards and she glances at her notebook to see what time Jack said Joanna was in the shop. "2:30 a middle aged woman, dark hair about the same length as Superintendent Pullmans, green eyes, 5'6 were you working at that time or can you put us in contact with who was."

"Young lady if that door is open I'm working does this look like a business with "staff"? I know exactly the lady you're talking about, was a bit of a surprise to be honest we don't often get ladies in here." The man behind the counter looks like he's been there since the 50's and he's right he shop looks like the kind of hole in the wall place that is open when it suits him to be there and the stock isn't exactly up to date. "See your average woman wants to go to one place and get all her DIY stuff given to her by a teenager in a flashy t-shirt and charged 10 times the price for it because it's in some big change Homebase or B&Q or whatever. The sort of customer I get in here are men like myself who are doing a bit of work and need half a dozen 6 inch nails and don't want to have to go buy a box of 500 just to get them. The big chains are….."

"Sorry to interrupt Mr….."

"Henderson, John Henderson sorry of course you want to know about the lady on Saturday." I know he probably doesn't often get an audience for his rant against the large DIY chains but I had to interrupt we have other places to get to and I'm interested in what Joanna bought not how unusual it was for her to be there.

"Ok Mr Henderson can you tell us what the woman we're talking about bought when she was here?"

"Nothing." Huh? What the hell!

"I'm sorry but she bought nothing at all? It's our information that she was in here for almost half an hour and yet you say she bought nothing at all?" Emily is clearly as sceptical as I am who spends that long in a shop and doesn't leave with something?

"Well you see she came in looking for locks, Yale locks for front doors you know the type, and I asked her who she had to fit them if she took them home? See what people don't realise when it comes to changing their locks is that you end up paying more if you come buy the locks yourself and then pay someone to fit it. If you know the right locksmith they can do the whole job for you including the new lock and it won't cost you nearly so much. So I told her and then I gave her the number of my man, you get a good feel for trades people when you've been at this for thirty years like me. I….."

"And she took the number? Do you know if she contacted them? Can you give us their contact details?" Locks? What the hell why would she need to shop for locks? Was she planning on changing the locks at her place or at Gerry's? I know I have a key somewhere to his place in a drawer in my kitchen because he used to constantly lose them so he left one with me and I know the girls probably all have one. Is she making sure that if we get really worried we can't just waltz in and see what's really going on?

"Yes she called him he told me last night when I met him in the pub that she was going this morning at 8 some place on the outskirts of the east end, I can give you his number but he's fast I would imagine he's finished and onto his next job by now." He's handed us a scribbled number and the name Fisher on a scrap of paper and I'm already half way out the door as Emily thanks him for his help.

"Get on the phone to Jack and Brian see if they're at Dad's yet and if they are and they are getting no answer does it look like the locks have been changed." She's clearly thinking the same thing I am, the address sounds like it could only be Gerry's home and the idea that she's locking us all out literally as well as figuratively now makes it suddenly seem a lot worse.


	11. Chapter 11

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 11/?**

"What do you mean the place looks half empty how did you get in?" I've finally got through to Jack on the phone as we walk to the first of the chemists and nothing he's saying is making any sense.

"We didn't get in Sandra there was no answer and when we went round the back of the building there was a few boxes of random stuff by the wheelie bins some of which Brian recognised as Gerry's. We managed to see through a kink in the blinds and the sitting room and dining room looked pretty empty. I mean there was furniture but all the usual stuff Gerry has lying around and all the pictures of the girls and GJ and whatever appeared to be gone." I have the phone on speaker and Emily is looking at me like she doesn't know whether to cry or scream with frustration.

"OK did you notice anything about the locks on the doors?" I haven't even had a chance to tell them about what we found out from Mr Henderson yet because the second he answered he started straight into telling me all about what they'd found.

"The locks? I never paid much attention why?"

"Just go back round the front and look at the lock, see if it looks new. Joanna was lock shopping in the hardware shop and the man in there gave her the number of a locksmith who told him last night that she'd called and he was doing a job for her this morning on the outskirts of the east end." I can hear him relaying what I'm saying to Brian as we reach the first chemist and Emily nods toward it indicating that she's going to go ahead and find out what she can while I talk to the boys outside the shop.

"That sneaky bitch. Yeah it's a new lock Sandra and Brian's just said that the back door looks like it's had a new one fitted too, what do you want us to do?" Shit I wish I knew a sensible answer to that question right now or even a nonsensical one that would get us somewhere.

"Sit tight there keep an eye on the place again we shouldn't have left it unattended this morning that was a bad call on my part but stay there for now we'll join you when we've finished here and we'll decide then what our next move is." How could I have been so stupid? I just assumed that it would be fine today not to have any of us watching Gerry's place because I assumed that he'd be with us. See what I mean about my judgement lately I'm so wrapped up in being concerned for him that I'm making decisions that could be putting him further into harm's way. If we'd been there this morning we would have seen the locksmith arrive and been able to challenge Joanna before he even got to work, actually I could have flashed my warrant card and got rid of him altogether if Gerry wasn't there to ok the change. I just hope it's not the one mistake that's going to mean we aren't going to be able to track him down at all.

"You're not going to believe this." Oh Emily I think I'll believe just about anything now but let's give it a shot and see if there's anything this woman could do that would still surprise me.

"What? You were ages what did they say?" She's holding a CD disc from a computer or something and I hope it's CCTV footage because I have a feeling we may need to bring Strickland in on this sooner rather than later and I want some hard evidence when we do.

"No one remembered her specifically but then they said it's a different team of staff on at the weekends mainly students, Saturday girls you know the type but they did have CCTV and by scanning it for Saturday afternoon and noting the exact time she was in they were able to cross reference that with the till rolls and find out what she'd bought."

"And? What was it come on Emily we don't have time for dramatic pauses just spit it out."

"Two boxes of over the counter insomnia remedies, a box of paracetamol, some old fashioned stretch bandages and this anti-chaffing gel stuff the pharmacist said is supposed to be used to stop heavier people's thighs rubbing together in the heat or whatever but he says he's heard rumours that it's used by people with a fondness for BDSM because it can also prevent restraints leaving marks on the skin." Oh god I'm not liking the sound of any of that. "Here's the clincher though I asked the pharmacist if the over the counter insomnia things could be lethal if taken in a big enough quantity and he said anything can be lethal if taken in a big enough quantity, he was a bit of a smart ass to be honest, but he then said with the over the counter stuff it would take an awful lot to OD on them but if they were taken in more than the recommended dose they could knock someone out pretty well for a short period of time at least."

"So let me get this straight she bought sleeping tablets, painkillers, bandages and anti-chaffing stuff isn't there a restriction on how many of those sleeping pills you can buy at once? I tried to buy a box of paracetamol and a box of aspirin together last week and the chemist wouldn't sell them to me because they were both painkillers so how come she was able to buy two boxes of them." The mild fear related tightness I was feeling in my chest when I hung up from my call with Jack and Brian has not become almost unbearable. I'm really scared for him now and nothing that she's saying now is helping.

"Yes they can only sell 32 of them to any one on customer at any one time the reason she bought two boxes was they only had the smaller 16 pill boxes but if she's been doing the rounds of the chemists then she could have a dozen boxes by now. We only know she went to three pharmacists what if she visited the same number again or maybe even more in the hour that Jack lost her for?" I really need to sit down my head is starting to spin and I've just made it to the bench outside the chemist in time. This is all wrong, seriously wrong and now I can't decide if it's more important to go to the other chemists or to go to his place and meet Jack and Brian but it appears Emily has already made up her mind. "I don't see the point in checking the other places yet we have to assume that since she couldn't buy multiple boxes of what she was looking for there she went and did the same thing at other places, bought what she could then moved on to the next shop. What did Jack say?"

"You heard the bit about the place being emptier than normal then he confirmed that it looks like the locks on both the front and back doors have been changed. This is all my fault Emily I should have left Jack or Brian there this morning to watch the place I just assumed he'd…."

"Sandra don't you dare start blaming yourself and losing control on us now. This isn't your fault it's hers and in a way Dad's for getting involved with her in the first place. If it wasn't for you we wouldn't even know that there was a problem yet so stop beating yourself up for making a decision we all agreed with and let's get over to his place and meet the boys. We're going to get to the bottom of this and when we do none of what we find is going to be your fault." I wish I had her confidence but as I get up from the bench and follow her to the car I'm not feeling at all confident anymore. Until now I've always believed it was just going to be a case of gathering enough information, putting it to Gerry then siting back and watching him break things off with this mad woman. Now though I'm not so sure we're going to get a chance to put anything to him, I mean if we can't even find him to keep track of what the hell chance do we have of finding out what she's up to?


	12. Chapter 12

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 12/?**

Emily is driving and we're maybe 10 minutes from Gerry's home but I still feel like the tightness in my chest is going to result in me passing out completely if I don't find a way to ease it. She's talking, running over what we know and what she thinks we should do once we get to Gerry's but I'm not hearing her all I can focus on is where he might be and what might be happening to him. My mind is a mass of questions. Why didn't I try harder to tell him I didn't trust her way back at the start? Why didn't the others listen sooner and if they had would it have made a difference? How has she managed to apparently spirit him away and empty his home without him putting up any objection or point out that she couldn't shut out his family and friends? Most importantly though is he safe? Is he ok wherever he is and if he is safe how long will that last if we don't find him.

"Yeah what have you got for me?" I've suddenly realised that the phone was ringing and now a male voice is filling the car as Emily hits the hands free button the change in volume in the car finally bringing me to my senses.

"I got that information you wanted, you're not going to like what I have to tell you though." Oh god how much worse can things get? Surely there's not much more to find out.

"Just tell me Jamie right now any information is welcome even if it's not pleasant." Emily has gone into full in control police officer mode and I'm glad one of us is still able to do that.

"Ok well the reason you couldn't find anything in the public records office for this Joanna woman is that you were looking under the wrong name I had to bend the rules a little and get into some places online by the back door but it seems your Joanna Wilson is actually Louisa Carson, her first husband died of a heart attack and her second divorced her under a cloud, there was some talk that she was abusing him he'd been ill for months apparently and when his family finally stepped in and took him to hospital she did a disappearing act. It seems she knew what the hospital was going to find when they ran tests which was a high concentration of narcotic in his blood stream. The daughter stayed with him, she was young at the time and her mother had vanished so she didn't have a lot of choice but when I spoke to the local plod up in Aberdeen they said the daughter had since come to them and filed a report saying she thought her mother had killed her father. They brushed it off as a teenager trying to get her own back on her mother for deserting her and she left again and re-joined the stepfather in Oxford where she's been ever since. Oxfordshire police have been looking for her but she'd dropped completely off the radar when we find her and if we bring her in they want to come down and interview her."

"Shit, ok thanks Jamie I owe you a pint." She's hung up and we've just pulled up outside Gerry's house. "We need to fill Jack and Brian in then we need to get into that house I don't care if we have to break every window in the place to do it. If we don't find anything there that will tell us where he is or if he's ok we go to Strickland it's time to make this official Sandra."

I can't argue with a single thing she's just said and even if I had anything to add I couldn't right now because the lump in my throat is telling me that if I try to talk all that will come out is a garbled scream and a flood of tears. She's out of the car and I can hear her filling Jack and Brian in and I know I should be out there too but I can't move. Gerry is somewhere with a woman who has a clearly defined history of harming the men in her life and we have no idea where he is or how to contact him. You know when this all started I was desperate to be proved right to show that I wasn't being irrational or over reacting to what was going on but right now I wish more than anything that I'd been wrong, that my gut instinct had failed me and she was really just a normal woman who happened to not warm to me.

"Sandra come on we're going into the house Brian thinks he can get the back door open by knocking out one of the panels." Jack has opened the passenger door of the car and is staring at me like he's suddenly concerned I'm going to fall apart in front of him, I must look like hell I can't remember the last time I slept properly and I haven't eaten since yesterday, or was it the day before, I can't remember any more but I suppose that might account for my light headedness. "You two go on round I want to talk to Sandra for a minute if you get in you can open the front door for us from the inside."

"I'm fine Jack we should go with them just in case the house isn't as empty as you think and she's there."

"There's no one there Sandra we'd have seen if there was and you are very far from alright. You look like you haven't seen sleep or food for weeks you can't do this to yourself what use are you going to be to us all especially Gerry if you go into complete nervous collapse? Wait here." He's gone for only a few second and he's back with a bar of chocolate and a can of energy drink. "Esther gave us a shopping bag full of stuff for when we were watching the house the last couple of days it's not much but it will keep you going till we get back to the station and I can get some real food into you."

"He's really in danger Jack, I really wanted to be wrong but I knew she was dangerous I could just feel it." I want to give him back the chocolate and the drink but suddenly I've realised just how hungry I actually am and he's right I can barely function now if I go much longer without eating I'll pass out.

"Yeah I know he is honey but we're going to find him and sort it out and when we do you're going to have been the one who made it happen." He never calls me by pet names unless he's really worried about me so I've just realised that I've been so wrapped up in Gerry and how I feel about the danger he's in that I haven't taken the time to think about how he and Brian might be feeling.

"Jack, Sandra we're in hurry up there's not much to see but the sooner we look round the sooner we can get back to the station and make this official." Emily is standing at the front door and from the look on her face I don't think we're going to find many clues to Gerry's whereabouts inside. So far we seem to be gathering a small mountain of information and none of it is bringing us any closer to finding him, we seriously need a break soon in this or I'm not sure I can share Jack's optimism about finding him before it's too late.


	13. Chapter 13

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 13/?**

"The wardrobes are empty, all the toiletries are gone and the beds have been stripped." Emily has just come down stair again and Jack and I move around the living room looking for something, anything that will make it seem like Gerry was ever here at all let alone recently. "Not only that but the bathroom reeks of bleach, and I'm pretty sure the carpets have been steam cleaned I stayed in that spare room a few months ago and the carpet is a good three shades lighter than it was then."

"All smacks of someone wanting to obliterate any trace of themselves and I don't mean she was wanting to get rid of traces of him." Brian has just come up behind her and I know that he's about to say because I'm already thinking it. "I think she knew it wasn't going to plan this time and that we were not going to just stand back and let her isolate him."

"Yeah and she may be a twisted bitch but she's not an idiot." God Jack really is getting angry now his voice has completely hardened and we're all staring at each other waiting for one of us to say the obvious.

"She would have known we'd be looking into her and we'd have access to ways of getting information that a normal group of family and friends wouldn't so she will have wanted to remove any forensic evidence." So shoot me for not wanting to stand here going over everything and actually get to the point we're not going to get anywhere by trying to sugar coat what we already know. "The big question is what the hell has gotten into Gerry going along with whatever she's been doing I mean if we take the leap and assume that she's been drugging him we only know for definite that she's had access to the dugs to do that since the weekend she didn't empty this place and get him moved to wherever he is in a weekend especially considering one of us was outside the entire time other than a few hours this morning. Gerry had to be on board at least at the beginning."

"Yeah well I think it's safe to say he's not now whatever's going on if she did need to go shopping for the means to keep him pliable a couple of days ago he had obviously started to have second thought." Brian is already at the back door patching up the window he broke while Jack takes photos on his phone for us to pass on to forensics so they know what was us and what wasn't when they come in and Emily seems to have slipped back into talking constantly which I've now realised is clearly her way of coping. "Jack, Brian you guys make this place secure and then we need to get back to your office and pull this all together into something we can take to Strickland, is that ok with you Sandra?"

I've nodded but to be honest I'm lost in my own thoughts again trying to think back to the last time I was here, the last time we all were, Gerry insisted on cooking for us all for Esther's birthday and later in the evening we got into a discussion about home security and something has just occurred to me.

"Jack did you check the floor safe?" Emily is looking at me like I've finally lost it but I can see realisation cross both Jack and Brian's eyes they are clearly reliving that night too.

"He'd have told her about it and she'd have made sure there was nothing in it." Jack ever the prophet of doom and negativity but I still think it's worth looking.

"What the hell are you talking about? What floor safe?" Shit I should have explained a bit better before moving sofas out of the way and pulling back the corner of the carpet.

"Gerry told us a few months ago that this place had a floor safe. The people who owned it before him were jewellers and sometimes brought stuff home that they were loaning out for big celeb events so they had a floor safe put in. He joked about it being where he kept his will and all the losing betting slips that explained why he didn't have anything to leave. If he had any hint at all that something was going on and he as out of his depth this would be where he'd have put anything he didn't want her to know about. As for telling her how long had he lived in this place and how often had we been here before he ever told us?"

She's completely on board now and helping me pull the carpet back revealing the top of the safe below. To be honest it doesn't look like it's been opened in months but I have to hold on to something.

"Brian can you remember where he said he kept the keys?" He's clearly already way ahead of me as he moves to the fire place running his fingers along the grout between the tiles and suddenly it's struck me I can actually hear him in my head explaining his choice of hiding place.

"It's three tiles up, the to the left then one down. Remember he said 3 daughters, the exes and one grandson?" Brian knows exactly what I mean though Jack and Emily look like I've sprouted a second head. "He has the key hidden behind one of the loose tiles on the fire place he told us and we laughed at the lack of security if it's still there though I'll never laugh again at his logic."

"Yeah right course you will and it is here." Oh my god Brian is holding up the key and suddenly I feel like it's the most important thing in the world. I could feel more excited about a single metal object if it were the keys to the tower of London and someone had just said I could nip in and take whichever of the crown jewels I fancied.

"Come on Sandra stop staring at the key and open the bloody thing!" I don't think I can my hands are shaking so much, please, please, please let there be something in here that will help.

"OK we've got general paperwork that looks like it's been here forever, his watch the one that used to belong to his grandfather and….oh god it's too far down I can't reach it, Brian come help can you see that envelope at the very bottom my arms aren't long enough can you get it?"

"It's for you guvnor and it doesn't look like it's been in there for years either the envelope is too clean and the ink hasn't faded." He's just handed me a crisp white envelope with Gerry's distinctive spidery scrawl on the front and they've all gathered round me as I turn it over in my hand.

"What is it?" Jesus Emily I don't have x-ray bloody vision do I why do people ask questions like that?

"Open it Sandra it could be the break we're waiting for." Jack is excited now the angry edge to his tone has gone and I know he's getting that adrenalin rush that we all do when we suddenly think we're about to get a break in any case. I though can only focus on what might be inside, Gerry isn't a letter writing sort of guy if it can't be said to you face in as brash a way as possible he doesn't bother saying it so if he's managed to find the time to put something down on paper and hide it in the one place she clearly had no knowledge of then I don't think we're going to be elated by anything we find in this envelope whether it's a break in the case or not.


	14. Chapter 14

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 14/?**

"Read it aloud Sandra we all need to hear what he has to say." Yeah jack I was planning to can't they give me a bloody minute to prepare myself for opening it? I know we're all in a panic right now but I really feel like at any minute I could be sick, really sick and I don't think I can do it.

"You open it Jack I can't. Just open it and read it out." Ok so I'm a wimp but seriously I may need to ate a dash to the bathroom at any second and they won't want to wait for me to recover to hear the rest. Now we're all staring at him expectantly as he opens the envelope.

"Ok here goes

_Dear Sandra_

If you're reading this then there's been a reason for you to go searching around the flat. Sorry about that. I know you've had your reservations about Joanna from the beginning, you've never been very good at hiding what you really think and this time I think you've done a worse job than normal. That said though I think you may have been rot to be concerned but I need to find out for sure and that may mean putting myself in a position that means this letter is the only way you will be able to help in the end. I think there are things in Joanna's past that aren't what she claims they are and I think they need investigating...  


"We'll why the hell didn't he just talk to us and we could have worked it all out together!" My anger is now over powering my concern as jack pauses for a second and we all star at each other clearly thinking the same thing before he continues.

_"I can hear you now ranting about how I should have told you and how I should have made it official but I couldn't not until I'm sure."_ God he knows we way too well but so far nothing he's saying in this bloody letter is telling me where he is or even where he might be. Come on Gerry if you knew there'd was a chance I'd need to read this give me something to work with! _"It's the weekend and she's gone shopping for a trip she wants us to take and I know now you'll be looking completely appalled and think I've lost my fucking mind to consider going with her but I have to. I can't explain why just yet but hopefully I will see you again soon and I can explain then. For now I have to let her believe she's in control and go with her..."  
_

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Yeah Emily I'm with you there what the hell does he think he's doing even if he doesn't know the exact details that we do he clearly has worked out there's something off about her so why would he go anywhere with her or let her think for a second that she was in control of him and the situation.

"It gets worse." Jack has clearly scanned the rest of the letter as we've been voicing our disapproval at it all and now I'm back to feeling sick again what the hell could be worse than him having gone off with this whack job?

"Just read the rest of it Jack so we can get out of here and do something about it." Brian has been completely silent through everything but now he looks like he's about to blow his top completely. He may appear at times that everything goes over his head but he cares about all of us even though he doesn't show it well and right now I know he's furious with Gerry for putting himself in danger and as worried as the rest of us about what's happening to him now.

"Ok but Sandra remember that he's going to be ok and we're going to find him ok?" Oh god this is bad I know it is and suddenly I've had to sit down again as he carries on reading. "_All I can tell you for now is that we're going to the Lake District and she's told me she has a cottage there. I will get to the bottom of this and when I do everything will be normal again but if I don't if anything happens to me Sandra remember that I know I should have listened or trusted the "vibes" I was getting from you and it's my choice not to. When this is all over I think maybe we need to talk but in the meantime know that I'm thinking about you and I'm doing what I can to sort this out and get back to you. Try not to worry I can take care of myself, Gerry"  
_

We're all staring at each other in silence now and I know they are thinking the same thing I am. The situation has just gone from worrying to all out terrifying and we're going to have no choice now but to take everything we have to Strickland and make it official. We need to tell him everything we've found out and make him see that this isn't just another disastrous Gerry relationship that it's a real reason for an investigation, a proper one.

"Right we need to get back to the station and we need forensics all over this place." Emily has taken charge again, she's getting almost as good at running into my moods as her father is and the boys are looking at me for confirmation.

"Emily is right the sooner we get moving on this the better. We need to get the ball rolling, see if we can find a property listing with land registry for any cottages houses or whatever to Joanna or whatever her name is so we might actually have a chance of getting to him before it's too late. Brian when we get back to the office you get on to that, Jack you call Oxford and speak to the lead officer on the original investigation into her and get all the details you can, tell them we're willing to share anything we have here if they will muck in from their end and make sure they realise how important it is that things are done quickly. Emily and I will pull what we know together and take it to Strickland there's no getting away from it now we have to bring him up to speed and then like Emily says we have to get forensics in here while we work on finding him."

They're all nodding in agreement and we're heading out of the building the silence between us so heavy with the tension we're all feeling you could cut it with a knife. Whatever happens from here on in one thing is for certain. Gerry is currently somewhere in the Lake District with a psychopath who is unlikely to react well to him challenging her and which we do know more than we did when we arrived here how much help will it actually be? The Lake District is a big pace and he could be anywhere in it assuming that it is actually where they ended up.


	15. Chapter 15

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 15/?**

"So you've all been working on this on the quiet for the last couple of weeks then?" Emily and I are in Strickland's office while Jack and Brian try to get more information from the Oxford police about the original investigation into Joanna or Louisa or whoever the hell she is. We've told him only the basics so far and he's looking at us like he can't decide whether to bollock us for working on it all unapproved, suspend us for using police resources or ask us what the hell took us so long bringing him up to speed and making it official.

"Yes sir, to be honest we weren't sure until today that there was anything too much to worry about so we were working on it in our own time. We realise it's unconventional but we were concerned that my Dad was in trouble and I think we've established now that he is." He's listening to Emily and nodding but I can see him glancing at me every few seconds and I know what he's thinking. Normally I'd have come storming into his office demanding that he not bother with the pointless questions but I'm still in shock and Gerry's words in the letter we found are running around in my head only making matters worse.

"Ok so you've established that there is a possibility of past violence from this woman and that Oxford have a file on her that they've been forced to shelve. What about in Scotland has anyone tried to chase that up yet?"

"No sir, we could only do so much without making it official but we'd like to start looking into that area and maybe directly liaise with Oxford if we can pool information then I feel we'll have a better chance of finding out where they've gone." I've finally found my voice but as the words come out they don't sound like me at all. I don't recognise the edge of defeat to voice and neither does he I can see his eyes narrow suspiciously.

"And you have absolutely no idea where they might have gone? I find it hard to believe that Gerry would just abandon his daughters and his grandson without so much as a word even if he may be persuaded to not let you know where he was going." Emily and I have exchanged a glance so laden with subtext that if he has failed to notice then I think he must be ill but he's not pushing it. See we all decided it might be better for now not to tell him about Gerry's letter and as such we can't say yet that we think they might have headed toward the Lake District. I know that Emily, Jack and Brian think they are protecting me by keeping the content of the letter from Strickland for now but I have another reason for not wanting him to know. They think I'm worried about the fact it implies that he didn't trust me enough to tell me but I think it's the opposite I think he didn't want to tell me because he knew I'd do everything I could to make sure that he stayed as far away from her as possible. It's started to make me wonder if the feelings for him that I've thought I was doing a good job of hiding were as obvious to him as they seem to have been to Emily.

"No but we're hoping if you sign off on us making things official forensics might get something in his flat and we can get a warrant to check the place she was renting near the University."

"And we're sure that she is gone too? I mean according to you there's an open night tonight at her department that Mrs Lane was going to attend and there's no indication that she's not going to be there? I've pulled up the department website here and she's still listened as giving a lecture tonight as part of the program." I knew he was going to pick up on that it was the first thing we checked today when we got back to the office and he's right there's no indication on the program for the evening that she's pulled out but she has to have surely? If what Gerry said in his letter is right they should have left by now, would she really have risked staying around for something like that.

"Well that's why we're planning on getting forensics into Dad's place this afternoon then Sandra and I are going to go to the lecture tonight. If she's not there we'll check out her place tonight if she is then we can decide what to do from there." Emily has taken over again because I'm not completely on board with this part of the plan. I think if we go there tonight and she is there then our presence alone is tipping our hand and she might panic.

"Is that really a good idea? Don't you think if she sees you both there she might feel cornered?" Thank god I'm not the only one who thought about it and Strickland is looking at me now. He knows I have already thought about that and he knows Emily is the driving force behind this plan but I'm not going to confirm what I know he's thinking. We're in this together and we make decisions as a team she, Jack and Brian are behind it and I'm not going to say I'm not in front of him.

"I think we need to know as soon as possible whether she's still in the area or not and if Sandra and I are there then we can act immediately"

"OK well look I'm going to ok you all to go with this on an official basis but I'm not happy with you two going in there tonight. I think the original plan to get Esther Lane to go in was a good one if she's happy to do it. Wire her up and you two can be outside in a surveillance van and if she's not there you'll know immediately and can act, if she is then Mrs Lane may be able to get some information out of her and if there's any hint of danger you can get in and deal with it."

"Thank you sir, we'll get forensics on to Gerry's place right away." I'm already almost out the door and Emily already is but he's called me back and told her to get on with getting the team out. Shit this might be bad.

"Are you ok Sandra?" See I told you he could tell I wasn't coping didn't I?

"Of course sir I'm just anxious to get things moving now that we can do it officially."

"I know how hard it is when it's a member of your own team in danger and a friend to boot if you need to hand over to someone else or…"

"No! No I can cope sir I'll keep you informed." There is no way I'm letting him take me off this now, not when things are really starting to move how could he think I could just hand it all to someone else, someone who doesn't know Gerry or care and who would just see it as another case?

"Well ok if you promise to tell me if you need to step away or if you feel the investigation is being compromised by you and the other's involvement." He's gone back to his computer screen and I know I'm being dismissed. Now that we have the freedom to do things properly I hope we will be able to find him soon because there is no way anyone else is doing this but there'll only be so long he'll let us work it before he plays the "conflict of interests" card and pulls us off it then god knows what will happen.


	16. Chapter 16

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 16/?**

"Ok Esther now when we get to the university this will mean that we can hear everything that you say and everything that anyone says to you ok?" Emily is currently finishing sorting out the wire on Esther that we are hoping will tell us something about either how Joanna herself is acting or about what others know about her but I'm having serious doubts myself. I mean if she is ready to take Gerry off somewhere why would she bother to hang around for a department open night? Brian is convinced that her ego won't let her go before she gets to play out her current "researcher" fantasy on a big scale like she will be when the place is full of potential new students all hanging on her every word and Strickland agrees with him but I think it's too easy.

"You're not convinced about this anymore are you?" Jack has sat on the edge of the desk beside me as we both watch Emily and Brian fuss around Esther making sure that the wire isn't visible and that what she says is coming through on the base unit currently at the other side of the room but which will be in the van with me and Emily in the end.

"I just don't think it's going to be that easy Jack I mean we're not dealing with some inexperienced giddy girl here who will just spill her guts because someone asks and that's if she's even there I'm not sue Brian's pop psychology explanation applies in this situation. Why would she have moved on getting Gerry out of the area so soon if she wasn't going with him and if she has moved him with the intention of still showing up tonight why would she take the risk of us having noticed. She's got to know that if we went to the flat the first place we'd go to look for her would be the university."

"Yeah but maybe she's just cocky enough to believe we're not that far ahead yet." He has a point I know he does but it still doesn't feel right. "I mean if it wasn't for you being so tenacious about it we probably wouldn't even have gt to the stage yet of believing there was something wrong, we'd have dismissed the stuff about GJ's birthday and Catlin's experience at the flat as just Gerry been a twat about things because he's besotted and even if after the Catlin thing we had started to take it seriously like we did without the ground work you'd already done we wouldn't have got this far by now she might actually think that there's no way we could be on to her yet. If that's the case it's worth a try."

"Look I'm not saying it's not worth a try all I'm saying is that my gut is telling me that this is going to get us nowhere, even if she's there what is she could to tell Esther?" Yeah you can call me obstructive right now if you want but part of me wants to walk in there tonight and if she's there march her ass back here and make her tell us where Gerry is and if she's not there demand that anyone who knows her tells us anything they might have heard or seen that will help us find him. I know it's not subtle and it's not the way to catch someone with the sort of cunning and experience at this sort of thing that Joanna has but it's how I feel.

"Sandra I know how you feel at the minute and I know unlike the others I know that Gerry is more important to you than you'd like any of us to believe but we're going to sort this out, we're going to find him and we're going to nail her and then when he's back you can beat the crap out of him for putting himself in that situation to begin with before you give him a big hug and tell him you love him." What the hell? How did we get form talking about Joanna and the chances of her being at this event tonight to talking about me telling Gerry I love him, even I'm not sure if I feel that strongly about him. All I know is that right now I feel like I've lost a limb and no one can make it right other than him, that nothing will be ok until he's back here getting on my nerves on an hourly basis.

"Jack now you're being ridiculous, I swear the stress of this situation is getting to you all even more than me. Come on let's get Esther to the Uni is Mark outside to drive her?" I can still see the scepticism in his eyes but he's chosen to let it lie for now and has nodded joining the others as they talk to Esther before I join them.

"Just remember love nothing is happening in there that we can't hear so don't get frightened or anything Sandra and Emily will be right outside and they'll step in if…"

"Brian for god sake I'm going to walk around talk to a few people and leave I'm not going under cover in the form soviet union I can cope and I am not scared." Esther is so good at handling Brian it's actually made me laugh for the first time in days.

"Mrs Lane I think Brian is just…"

"Brian is just being his usual worrying self but I expect better from you Mr Strickland do I look like I can't handle this situation?" Of Esther I swear if it was appropriate I'd kiss you right now not just Brian but Strickland put in his place in a single sentence. "And I'm going to go now my son is waiting outside and I'll have to listen to this all from him too. Girls are you coming or are we going to stand around pandering to this lot for the rest of the night and forget about finding Gerry?"

"We're right behind you Esther." I am trying really hard not to laugh as Emily and I follow her out of the room and while I'm still not sure this is going to help I am certainly more confident about how she'll cope with it, if Joanna is there and is prepared to give anything away Esther find it out, she'd give Miss Marple a run for her money.


	17. Chapter 17

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 17/?**

"I still don't know about this." Me and Emily are in a surveillance van outside the university listening to Esther make small talk with other potential "student" at the opening drinks potion of the department open night and I'm starting to think that this isn't a good idea, actually that it's a terrible one.

"I heard that there would be some people here from the research section of the psychology department." Esther has finally found someone to ask about if Joanna is there and if she is where she is and at least she's doing it tactfully. It's not that I don't have faith in her ability to do it, just the opposite in fact but I can't see that Joanna is going to be stupid enough to be there and if she is I'm worried that she'll immediately see through Esther and she'll be in danger along with Gerry.

"Yes they are over in the far corner, see the table of information leaflets set up and there's a handful of people behind the desk." Ok so the department is there but is Joanna.

"Thanks do you know any of them? I'm a little shy are they ok? I don't want to look like an idiot I've been out of education for so long I'm a little worried about coming across as a dottery old woman." Nice Esther all those years of watching Agatha Christie are paying off.

"You've nothing to worry about, they're a friendly bunch and tonight is about encouraging mature students back into education so don't worry about it just go over and say hello, let me see who's there…You see the guy with the beard who looks like he's just stepped out of a German comic book? That's Will he's a good guy speak to him and he'll introduce you to the others." Great she has an in, though I'd rather he'd told her if Joanna was there or not.

"Great can you point me in the direction of the ladies?" She must have something to tell us we told her go to the bathroom and make sure no one else was in there if she wanted to talk to us directly. "Sandra, Emily can you hear me?"

"We can hear you Esther did you make sure no one else can?" Ok, ok yes I know so forgive me for being a little jumpy we're deal with an A Grade psycho here and I don't want to take any chances. "Yeah I'm alone in the ladies, she's there she was talking to that Will fella that the student going round with the drinks pointed out to me what do you want me to do next?"

"I think we should pull her out, we've established she's there so she's not with Gerry we can watch for her coming out and follow her." Emily is looking at me now like I've lost my mind but I can't shift the impending sense of dread that something is going to go wrong if we leave Esther in there too long.

"Esther just go back in, see if you can engage her in conversation, general stuff, what she does, what sort of research then do your nose old lady bit and see if you can get her to open up about her home life. You know the sort of thing asking if she has kids, if she's married all those things we've all been cornered and quizzed about by people at any event." She's ignoring my comment and so is Esther she's just said ok and that she's gone back out into the main event so I can't even talk to her directly anymore.

"I have a bad feeling about this Emily."

"Sandra we've come this far we need to follow through I'll keep listening here you go ring Brian and Jack and tell them she's in the building so we're all clear to check out the address that we have for her though I doubt there'll be much to see there I don't think she's stupid enough to be holding dad there." She's now put her head phones back on and I've stepped outside the van to make the call without my mobile causing interference on the line thank god it's Jack who's answered if Brian asked me if Esther was ok I don't think I'd be able to just says yes and not break down about how worried I am.

"What have you got? Is she there?" You can always rely on Jack to get straight to the point he's not a beating around the bush sort of man he never has been which is why he and I get on so well.

"Yeah she is but Jack I'm not getting a good feeling about this. Emily thinks I'm being ridiculous I know she does but something in my gut is telling me Esther shouldn't be there. She's been pointed in the direction of the Phycology department by one of the students and told the name of one of the guys there but now she's gone to actually try to talk to Joanna and I feel sick."

"Look Sandra if there's even a hint of any danger Esther is sensible enough to get herself out of there you know that. I know you're on edge right now and everything feels like it could be dangerous and it could be but we've briefed her well enough to be able to trust her not to put herself in danger ok?" No one can calm me down like he can years of dealing with me in just about every situation mean that he's better than anyone at knowing what I'm thinking he is more of a parent to me than my Father was in the end or than my mother could ever be.

"Yeah I know you're right. Look now that we know she's here we think you should go check out the address we have for her. Neither of us actually believe you're going to find Gerry there but at least we might know if she actually is using it as a base or has somewhere else local." He's agreed and gone and I am standing at the side of the van taking a few deep breaths before I go back in. I just want this to be over. I know it's selfish to focus on how it's making me feel but I can't ignore the fact anymore that I want him back and when I get him back I'm going to make sure he never leaves me like this again. I'm going to make him realise that we should be together and that he doesn't need to put himself in these sorts of positions looking for someone else because I'm right here and I love him more than life itself.


	18. Chapter 18

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 18/?**

"What's happening?" I've sat back down beside Emily and put on my own headphones and I can hear general noise from the function in the background but not Esther just yet.

"She's engaged Joanna in conversation and she's offered to show her the research labs they are on their way there now." What the hell? The deal was that she would stay in a crowd and talk to Joanna not risk being on her own in some part of the university that we have no idea how to get to if something went wrong. What the hell is Emily thinking how can putting Esther in danger help I don't want this and neither would Gerry if he was here now.

"Emily pull her out now, I'm not having this have you lost your mind? We don't even know where in the university building the research labs are if something happens it's like a rabbit warren in there we wouldn't be able to get to her in time if Joanna turned nasty. This wasn't the plan and I'm pulling rank we bring her out now!" Emily is looking at me like it's only just downed on her what a stupid thing it was to let Esther go off on her own but it's too late I can hear Joanna's voice in my headphones now telling Esther that it's not much further to her lab and she'll show her exactly what she wants to know when they get there and I can hear it in her tone, she knows, she knows something's not right.

"I really appreciate this I'm so interested in the psychology department, my husband says I've a strange obsession with how people's minds work." Esther is still playing along she hasn't a clue shit now Emily is several shades whiter than she was two minutes ago and we are in real trouble here.

"Esther make your excuses and leave. Do it now we're not happy with this we want you out now." I've all but shouted into my mike and I'm sure I've deafened her she'll have got the message so loudly but I'm not getting the impression she's following our instructions.

"What does your husband do? Isn't he concerned about you taking up a university course, these things take up a lot of time." Joanna is playing the game and I can tell this is her way of telling Esther and us that she knows who she is and what's going on. Shit, shit, shit this is bad.

"Oh he's retired and has lots of hobbies of his own he's 100% behind me. Is this the lab it's…."

"Emily where's she gone why can't we hear her." I'm looking from Emily to the technical support officer sitting at the other end of the van but neither of them seem to have come up with an answer. "We're going in, Unit 1 follow Mrs Lane and the suspect's tracks I don't care how you do it but find out where in that bloody place she is."

Unit 1 is our guy on the inside who was supposed to not be letting Esther out of his sight but he's just informed me that he didn't see them leave the conference room and now Emily and I are out of the van and running toward the building I can't believe this is happening.

"Where are the psychology labs? Tell me now." We've run into some of the students passing for waiters for the night and Emily has flashed her warrant card which seems to have finally shaken them out of the amusement they were feeling at two women running through the door like the place was suddenly on fire.

"In the basement, take the lift to level zero when you get out Psych is to the left what's going on?" We've not bothered waiting to answer them Emily is on the phone telling the station we need back up and the lift is taking too long so we're running for the stairs.

"I knew this was a mistake I should have called her in when I wanted to earlier I can't believe this if something's happened to her I'll never forgive myself." I can barely talk between and we've finally followed the stairs as far down as they'll go and even finding the lifts and following the corridor to the left as the student told us to we're getting nowhere there's are two dozen doors a lot of which are locked and the ones that aren't the rooms are empty. Emily is ahead of me on one side of the corridor and I'm working my way up the other.

"Sandra, here, quickly I've found her call an ambulance!" Oh god I feel like my legs have turned to lead as I fumble with my radio yelling into it that we need an ambulance at the university just as I reach the door of the lab to see Esther lying in the middle of the floor inside.

"Shit! Emily is she ok?" Emily is leaning over her quietly saying her name while checking for a pulse and I can't move I can't make my legs take me from the door frame to where Esther is lying on the floor.

"She's ok I think she has a head wound she's been hit with something I'd say that microscope on the floor there would be a good bet we'll need to get forensic in here ASAP as well where the hell is Joanna how did she get past us we were here within a few minutes of the mike going dead."

"She must have been in the lift that's why it was taking too long." My own voice sounds alien to me as I feel a tear run down my cheek and two paramedics run past me heading for Esther who is still unconscious on the floor. This is my fault I should have gone with my gut, whatever Emily said I should have got Esther out of that room the minute I felt that there was something not right. Now we're no closer to finding Gerry, Joanna could be god knows anywhere by now and Esther is injured this is a disaster and I don't know if I can cope with another minute of it.


	19. Chapter 19

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 19/?**

"Sandra where is she? Is she ok?" I'm sitting outside a cubical in an A&E department and I couldn't even tell you which hospital we're at I was so focused on Esther when they put her in the back of the ambulance and when they drove us here that I didn't bother to ask where they were bringing us. Jack and Brian have just arrived which has immediately brought it home to me again how dangerous this all was.

"She's ok they've sedated her but only so they could stitch her head they're going to move her to a ward in a little while when they get a bed. Brian I'm so sorry I…" He's gone past me without a word and suddenly I'm crying, sobbing actually, and I can't stop.

"Ssssh come on." Jack has ushered me to a seat and told me to stay put for two minutes then disappeared behind the curtain. I just don't know how it's all gone so wrong. A couple of months ago everything was perfect we were all together, all happy, all safe then that woman came into our lives and now it's all gone to hell. "Right let's go."

"What? Jack I can't just go and Leave Brian and Esther he doesn't cope at the best of times but with her not even conscious he'll…" He's taken my elbow and is all but dragging me out of the building and toward the car.

"He's fine, Mark is on his way and he can help Brian cope for now. Emily and Strickland are working on getting a warrant for Joanna's home and for her personnel files at the university nothing more can be done tonight. I'm taking you home and I'm going to make you something to eat then you're going to sleep." How can he expect me to just go home and have a nice meal then sleep when we still don't know where Gerry is and Esther is injured?

"Jack I have to get back to the office, if Brian doesn't need us here then we should be working, looking again and what we've got and trying to work out if we've missed something."

"Sandra Pullman you are going to do what you're told for probably the first time in your bloody life do you hear me?" He's actually shocked me into silence and I'm in the car and still can't answer him as he pulls out of the hospital car park in the direction of my house. "We'll talk about everything when we get you home and you've had a shower or a bath or whatever and something sensible to eat because right now you're going to be no good to anyone."

"Ok" I don't even have the energy to argue with him anymore. He's right I don't remember the last time I had anything hot to eat I've been surviving on coffee and deli sandwiches and sometimes not even that. I can't focus on everyday mundane things while Gerry is gone so it hasn't been unusual for me to forget to eat at all. As for sleep it's been so long since I didn't feel exhausted that I've forgotten what that is like.

"Go have a hot bath or whatever and put something comfy on. You and I are not going anywhere until the morning so you can sleep." We're in my house and I'm trying to tell him if he wants hot food he'll have to order it because there's nothing in my cupboards but he's not listening so I've given up.

"Ok there's a pile of take away menus in the kitchen drawer and there's cash on the sideboard in the living room when you look in my kitchen and realise there isn't anything worth cooking." God he's determined to get me to relax if he was any more frustrated right now I'd be worried about his blood pressure.

I can hear Jack moving around downstairs in the kitchen and I don't know what he's found but it definitely sounds like he's cooking. Now with the bath water and the lavender oil I put in it finally taking some of the tension out of my limbs but all that's doing is making it easier for me to think. Thinking is my big problem right now but unfortunately it's one thing now warm water and scented oil can take away.

"Gerry where the hell are you and why are you doing this? I don't care what you say about needing to find things out for yourself this is wrong. We don't do "on our own" we need each other." I know talking to an empty bathroom achieves nothing but in my heart I can't help but hope that somehow he can feel me, hear me because that's what I want to be able to do with him. I'm crying again but this time at least I'm in a position to let it all out. Somehow it feels like the only thing that I can do right now that I have any control over and I need that more than anything.

"See you look better already, sit down dinner's ready." I've made it downstairs and something smells great though I don't know how he's made anything with the contents of my fridge.

"What is it and where did you get the ingredients?"

"It's a Spanish omelette you had eggs and there was so chicken in the freezer I defrosted in the microwave and some frozen veg it's not exactly gourmet but over the years since Mary died I've learned how to make something from nothing in an emergency." He's smiling sadly at me as we both start eating and now that I have something hot and tasty in front of me I've realised just how hungry I am. "You realise that you can't let yourself get into this state again don't you? If you fall apart then we all fall apart then Gerry really is in trouble."

"I'm not even sure I can trust my own judgement anymore Jack I knew as soon as Esther asked about the psychology department tonight that we should pull her out. My gut told me something wasn't right but I let Emily over ride my common sense and experience and now we're no closer to finding Gerry and Esther is in hospital." He's poured me a glass of wine and handed it to me but he can sense my reluctance to take it.

"Having a glass of wine doesn't mean you're partying Sandra it'll help you sleep and I know I've said it already but you need to stop beating yourself up about this. We all told Esther not to leave the main hall and she knows how dangerous Joanna is she should never have taken that risk."

"Try telling Brian that have you called since we got back? Is she ok?" I'm being haunted by the image of Esther lying on the lab floor. She looked like exactly what she is an older woman who should be sitting at home with a cup of tea and her soaps on the TV not doing undercover police work in an effort to catch a twisted bitch like Joanna.

"Sandra, Brian understands as does Esther she's awake and she's more worried about you and if you are blaming yourself. I told Brian to tell her everything is ok and to get to sleep we'll question her in the morning about what happened."

"We have to find him Jack, if anything happens to him I don't think I could survive." He's taken my empty plate from me and eased me onto the sofa pulling the soft fleece blanket from the back over me.

"I know Sandra but that's what it's like when you're in love with someone, even if you aren't ready to admit it to yourself yet." I've opened my mouth to protest but he's shook his head and turned off the overhead light so that the only lamp in the corner. "Sleep that's a discussion for another time when he's back right now we have a lot more to do tomorrow to ensure that happens so you need your rest."

Part of me wants to continue arguing to talk about why he assumes I'm in love with Gerry but I'm too tired and how do you argue with the truth. Now all I have to do is get up tomorrow and find him then maybe I can tell him. After I've killed him myself for putting us through all this of course.


	20. Chapter 20

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 20/?**

"Morning, are you feeling any better?" I've just woken up on the sofa under a blanket with jack watching me from the chair he was in when I remember going to sleep last night and I wouldn't be surprised if he's been sitting there the whole night. I know how worried he was about me last night and to be honest he was right to be but now with a few hours' sleep I feel like I can think straight again.

"Yeah thanks have you had some sleep? You should have gone up and got into the spare bed."

"I'm fine I dozed on and off I wanted to keep an eye on you I was worried about you, we all were. I've just called the hospital Esther is ok, she's awake again and more than happy to talk to us so do you want to go have a shower and change or whatever then we'll head over to the hospital?" Oh god I can't believe I've been awake for a whole ten minutes and only now has Esther come back into my head bringing with that sickness in the pit of my stomach.

"Have you heard from Emily and Strickland? How have they got on with getting a warrant for her house and her personnel records?" I'm back on completely focused mode now that my brain has woken up and I can almost see his heart sink. "Look I'm going to shower and have a proper breakfast and everything before we leave I just want to know what's been going on."

"Ok well Emily called after you fell asleep last night they drafted the warrants and have them signed ready to be executed this afternoon so I thought we'd go speak to Esther then later we can meet them at the office they're going to get her records and bring them back there first then we'll all go together to her place and see what we can find." Ok that all sounds ok, it makes sense for us to go and talk to Esther and them to go back to the university then we can get to her place together. We're going to find him aren't we Jack?"

"Of course we are and when we do you're going to be happy together and we're never going to have this problem again. Now go get ready I'll make us both some fresh coffee and Mary's special scrambled eggs and some toast."

"You're wasted on your own it's time you found yourself a nice lady to cook for." He knows I'm teasing and he knows I'm not serious Jack and Mary were the real deal and when she died she took his heart with her so no one else could ever claim it but he's happy that way so it's not my place or anyone else's to try to change him and he's right the sooner I get ready and we eat the sooner we get to talk to Esther.

"Maybe you should go in a speak to her I'm not sure either of them will want to see me right now." I know it sounds like I'm being cowardly but now that we're at the hospital and outside the small sideward that Esther is in I'm not sure her and Brian are going to want to see me or have anything to do with me right now. I still feel like I should have stepped in and nothing is taking away the guilt that's crushing my chest at the minute.

"You're going in if I have to drag you in. I told you already they don't blame you now come on we're wasting time."

"Sandra are you ok? Ssh don't cry I'm fine look and even Brian is smiling." I've walked in the door of the room and immediately burst into tears and Brian and jack look like rabbits caught in very bright headlights!

"Are you sure you're ok? I'm so sorry Esther I should have pulled you out of there I knew in my gut it was a bad idea." I've calmed down and given her a big hug and she's shaking her head.

"Sandra I knew what I was doing and you both told me not to go out of the main room I got a little excited when she seemed to be happy to talk to me it wasn't until we got into that lab that I realised she knew who I was and was playing games with me." See I knew that was what had to have happened I mean Esther wasn't going to have been stupid enough to have gone with her if it seemed for a second like she was on to her but that makes me even more worried about just how calculating this woman is being.

"Ok just talk us through what happened when you got into the lab did she flip her hand immediately or did she let you think she still didn't know who you were?"

"She let me talk I was telling her about Mark about how he never went to university but he thought it was a great idea for me to I was trying to get round to talking to her about her daughter but then she just came out and said "And what does Brian think about you going out 3 nights a week I'd have thought he would prefer you at home" I didn't know what to say and she knew it then she cornered me. I tried to make it to the door but she wouldn't let me out of the corner of the room I told her you were all outside and would be in immediately if you thought she was going to hurt me and she said you were all useless she had managed to manipulate Gerry right under your noses and none of you noticed and now she was going to finish him off and move on." Jack and Brian are looking at her now like they want to kill someone and I know it's because they still regret not listening to me in the first place but we don't need to be focusing on that right now.

"What did she do then love? Did she tell you anything about where he might be." Brian has taken over asking her questions and I'm reminded again how different he is with her, yeah he is still his usual manic self with her too but sometimes we see little moments like this where I can totally see why she fell in love with him and why she's stayed with him for so long.

"No I tried to get away and that's when she lifted the microscope and hit me with it, I really thought I was going to die but she clearly didn't think so because before I passed out she told me to tell you all that you might as well forget about Gerry he was never coming back and you'd never find him. Then I blacked out so I don't know where she went or anything more about where he is I'm sorry I wish I'd found out more."

"You did Great Esther, really great didn't she Sandra?" Jack is reassuring her and I'm agreeing with him completely as I squeeze her hand my mind now racing with the new information but I'm also even more scared, just once I'd like to hear a new piece of information in this whole horrible mess that made me feel like we had a moment of hope and as we leave Esther and Brian and tell her to rest up all I can do is pray that we'll find that hope when we get to her house this afternoon.


	21. Chapter 21

**** For authors notes, disclaimer etc. see chapter 1**

**Black Widow 21/?**

"How is Esther? Have the hospital said if she'd going to be ok?" We've just arrived back at the office where Emily and Strickland have got paperwork spread out all over the evidence table which I'm assuming is all Joanna's personnel records from the university, and before you say it yes I know her name isn't Joanna but I can't get my head round it at the minute so it's easier if I just stick with the name I've been using because this whole situation is head melting enough without starting to fuss around about names.

"She's ok they'll let her out later today they just want to keep an eye on her for a few more hours." Jack is still taking charge and he has no idea how grateful I am as he recounts all the details Esther was able to give us and Emily and Strickland listen carefully.

"Yeah well she might think she can do what she wants and walk away again but she's never dealt with us before we'll find Gerry and make sure it's a hell of a long time before she sees the light of day again." Strickland has really surprised me through this he seems genuinely furious that she would think she could hurt Gerry and we'd just stand back and let her and I can see that Emily is as shocked and worried by what we've heard as I am. "We've got the personnel records here and they are a complete fairy story. While I've been reading them through Emily has been contacting the universities she claimed to have her qualifications from and none of them have heard of Louisa Carson or Joanna Wilson but then we don't know what name she'd be using at any time right now they are emailing through the university year book pictures for the year she claims to have graduated from her undergrad degree and also her masters to see if we can see her and work out if she was using another name."

"How can she have gotten a job at one of the top universities in the country without them checking her qualifications?" I can't believe what I'm hearing I mean these days you need a bloody reference from the queen to get a job collecting the bins how can this have happened? How can she just have walked into a research post without anyone bothering to contact her educational qualifications? "Did they check her references? Did she even give references?"

"I spoke to the head of personnel and she says they would have eventually got around to checking her claims about her qualifications but they don't routinely do it before offering research positions. As for references she gave the Oxford as he references and apparently some bright spark in the vetting department figured no one would fake a job at one of the top two uni's in the country so they put checking them on the back burner."

"But we didn't." Emily has finally spoken for the first time since we came in and I'm glad that she's not falling apart as much as I was but I'm starting to pull myself together the determination from all of them rubbing off on me.

"And?" Jack has so little patience it is unbelievable but I'm with him on this one I'm not in the mood to play guess the outcome.

"Oh a "Louisa Carson" worked there and even in the psych department but she wasn't a lecturer or even a researcher she worked in the admissions office sending out offer letters to A level students. The woman I spoke to said they'd send through everything they had on her thought they've already given copies to the Oxford guys. Apparently there were complaints and she left under a cloud. She was making a nuisance of herself in the department hanging around the research students making them feel uncomfortable and there was even a claim of harassment from one of the Lecturers he said she was coming on strong and had made threats but eventually she was persuaded to leave and it wasn't taken any further." This is all making so much sense and as she writes that information up on the incident board I feel like we're starting to actually get a handle on this woman.

"Great so they let it drop she goes on to try to bump off hubby number two and when that fails she lands down here and we're fucking stuck with her." Jack hates it when he hears things have just been "dropped" for convenience and it leads to something even more dangerous. "Where the complaints passed on to the Oxford guys before she did her disappearing act?"

"No it was considered counterproductive and potentially embarrassing to the college she was working in to have it on public record so it was dealt with internally." Why am I not surprised and even Strickland who is very much an establishment man sounds pissed off by it all. "We've arranged a call to the professor who made the original complaint he's going to talk to us in about half an hour when he's one lunch and then we'll head over to her place and see if we can find anything there while we wait for the uni's to get back to us with all their various bits of info hopefully then we'll know something more about her and maybe be able to get into her head a bit better."

"What about the daughter and the ex? Have we managed to arrange a time to meet them yet?" I can't get past the idea that the key to what we need to know lies with her daughter I mean until recently she's been the only person around for all of Joanna's antics so she will surely know more than anyone else about what her mother will be thinking and where she might be.

"Yeah they are driving down they should be here tonight they're staying the night and we'll interview them in the morning." I know Emily agrees with me that they hold the key I can tell in her tone of voice. This is the point where we should be getting somewhere, we have several sources of information we didn't have yesterday so maybe, just maybe when we get all of that in place we may actually get somewhere.


End file.
